In zeer-consciousness zandtao describes how his practice developed from Buddhism - Mindfulness with Breathing (MwB) as taught by Ajaan Buddhadasa. In recent years he describes himself as having crossed the threshold of autonomy, and in this autonomy chooses to see his approach as more secular - developed in this book. When he uses Pali words zandtao is not asking you to follow Buddhist teaching - it is your choice what teachings you follow. He is using the Pali language to give a new conceptual framework to what he is enquiring about. These are only words; please don't think your are being triggered by the Pali word, possibly the enquiry itself is triggering.
 Upadana
When he is writing zandtao finds himself asking the enquirer to deeply question a particular concept or approach. But there are times when a concept or approach contains "too much baggage" - pre-conditioned thinking - too many attachments. One such word is idealism. This word has an image of a young person who has passionate ideals, they maybe hold onto these ideals too tightly but are often considered caring for being so idealistic. When zandtao considers idealism he perceives that holding onto ideals is damaging. For zandtao clinging is something to be avoided, and one such clinging is clinging to ideals. zandtao feels that asking westerners to enquire about idealism might cause conflict so when he considers clinging he uses the term upadana, and uses the term ditthupadana for clinging to ideals. zandtao feels it would be easier to enquire about a fresh concept of upadana rather than talking of clinging to ideals.
Upadana is a Pali word he uses.
tathata
Tathata is central to all that zandtao speaks of with regards to a pathtivist perspective. Tathata means clear vision of the way things are - this is a very clear and accurate translation of tathata. The first problem this meets is with the word vision because vision can be associated with people having visions as hallucinating. Clear vision is particularly important in daily life and especially in activism where the system-of-accumulation attempts to develop delusions. We use our practice to release the conditioning and conformity that comes from upbringing, and we then use our practice to prevent conditioning and conformity causing new attachments. If we can see without conditioning and conformity then we can see the way things are - tathata. In traditional activism some attention is given to this understanding when the word propaganda is used, but perhaps more attention is needed in considering the impact of our upbringings; is having the vision not to react to that upbringing but simply release the conditioning and conformity important?
atammayata
Atammayata is a word that zandtao likes the sound of - and from what he has read it was a favourite conceptual framework of his Buddhist teacher Ajaan Buddhadasa. So using this word is a bit of a peccadillo. Atammayata is a state of non-concoctability so clearly it is a word that has no easy translation. What it means is that the individual is in a state where conditioning and conformity cannot cause attachment. It could be considered detachment but detachment as a word has a suggestion of emotionless withdrawal; this is not detachment. zandtao also likes that the word atammayata suggests that there is a state in which conditioning and conformity cannot attach, that seems a bit more than detachment to zandtao but maybe not?
sila
Sila is discussed throughout zeer-consciousness and is considered as part of the armoury of a pathtivist in tathata of conviction and sila. Sila can be translated as moral integrity, maybe that is an accurate translation but it lacks the central strength that sila brings to the pathtivist. In Buddhism sila has a particular definition , it is 3 of the magga, Noble 8-fold Path - right action, right speech and right livelihood; but its usage in Buddhism extends further than that.
zandtao is not pushing Buddhism and uses sila in a different but similar way. Sila arises from the path, it is not a mental comparison of right and wrong hence he does not use the word moral. He also does not use the word moral because it has been appropriated by establishment. Through conditioning and conformity the establishment presents itself as a moral force for good in the world whereas establishment as system-of-accumulation is that which causes the greatest harm in the world. This morality is also associated with Christianity, and establishment tries to present itself with a Christian hue. There is no disconnect between sila and Christian values (as opposed to beliefs and institutionalism), but zandtao does not want sila to be associated with a limiting religious ethos. Sila arises from the path, and if all aspects of human life were conducted in sila there would be perfect harmony and compassionate liberation.
khandha
Khandha is an important word in Buddhism and Hinduism, and the nearest translation is aggregate. In life our consciousness lives through the 5 human khandhas - body, emotions, memories and perceptions, mental operations and the consciousness that attaches to these. This is a way of seeing human life that is not presented in the West. zandtao suggests that as beings we have consciousness that attaches to these temporary aggregates, and we live through these aggregates. Whilst this suggestion is close to both Buddhism and Hinduism, zandtao is not sure how this suggestion would be taken within those traditions so he does not ask that you see khandhas in the way Buddhism and Hinduism sees it, but asks that you consider his suggestion.
There is no I or mine in the 5 khandhas is a phrase he picked up when studying Buddhadasa, and it helped him learn about self and egos. It is why he sees the notion of khandhas as so important. But in addition it taught him a great deal about where we have egos. For zandtao there is a minimal optimisation of khandha in our daily lives, the more we see any of the khandhas as being self the more we are restricted and out of alignment. Seeing the khandhas gave his practice somewhere to go when looking for attachment.
sankhara khandha
As an educationalist, zandtao has always seen sankhara khandha as having particular relevance for western-style academia. Essentially academia has many diverse descriptions of mind and rarely draws distinction between consciousness and mental operations; zandtao remembers an online conversation where a Native American was very clear about Heart and mind where all problems lay in mind whilst Heart was the way forward. zandtao also draws a distinction between consciousness and mental operations (although consciousness is needed to have a mental operation  ), however in academia there is much overlap between consciousness and mental operations. Reasoning is a process of logical operations, and as such has no consciousness. What we base those logical operations on - in maths called an axiom - arises not from reasoning but from observation through consciousness or an insight from consciousness. Yet in academia consciousness and mental processes are often mixed together.
zandtao also draws a distinction between intelligence and intellect where intelligence is the consciousness and intellect is the processing of observations through mental operations. Since these terms don't have that clarity because of our academic conditioning, zandtao uses the term sankhara khandha when considering this area of mental processing.
sampajanna
zandtao first met this word as one of Buddhadasa's Dhamma Comrades - qualities arising from Buddhadasa's MwB; to be honest in his studies he learnt this word by rote. However this word has taken on huge importance with pathtivism. Once he developed zeer-consciousness, zandtao realised the importance of embodiment developing pathtivism as a choice of embodiment. Inherent to the path is embodiment, a need and duty to give to life; usually this giving back takes on the form of teaching or advising. As an aside zandtao considers the plethora of teachings as confusing, and feels that people on the path could perhaps consider another way of giving back. This is a consideration of sampajanna - wise embodiment, is teaching always the best way to give back?
Sampajanna as wise embodiment also has another important consideration for people on the path and seekers, is spiritual bypassing wise embodiment? Once we find our path, is going up a mountain to meditate for the rest of our lives wise embodiment - sampajanna?
And there is one final sampajanna issue that is so important, how much attachment arises from the embodiment we choose? Whilst zandtao considers a whole life of meditation up a mountain as bypassing, he understands that whilst the path might not be progressing there can be limited attachment issues with this spiritual bypassing up a mountain. Following the path's need of embodiment into daily life brings with it many issues that our practices need to deal with to maintain atammayata - for zandtao this is a very important sampajanna issue.
|
Books:-