©2005-2025 Mark A. Foote
Gautama said:
“And I… at the close of (instructional discourse), steady, calm, make one-pointed and concentrate my mind subjectively in that first characteristic of concentration in which I ever constantly abide.”
(MN I 249, Pali Text Society vol I p 303)
Gautama’s statement implies that he did not experience “that first characteristic ...
Gautama’s teaching revolved around action, around one specific kind of action:
…I say that determinate thought is action. When one determines, one acts by deed, word, or thought.
(AN III 415, Pali Text Society Vol III p 294)
“When one determines”—when a person exercises volition, or choice, action of “deed, ...
From “Emotions Are the Path”, on “The Dao Bums” online forum site:
My emotional state usually has a sort of positive uplift to it, if I’ve taken care of my health. If the positive uplift goes missing, then I find I need to revisit recent experience, oftentimes to review what belongs to me and what belongs ...