Ask A Buddhist II

[Vouthon]

My dear Buddhist brothers and sisters

I have a couple of thoughts I would like to share with you on Abba Evagrius Ponticus (one of the greatest and most systematic theologians among the early Desert Fathers) & Saint Isaac the Syrian, a seventh century Syrian theologian who has had a potent influence in both the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches

First Abba Evagrius:

“…If there is any monk who wishes to take the measure of some of the more fierce passions so as to gain experience in his monastic art, then let him keep careful watch over his thoughts. Let him observe their intensity, their periods of decline and follow them as they rise and fall. Let him note well the complexity of his thoughts, their periodicity, the demons which cause them, with the order of their succession and the nature of their associations. Then let him ask from Christ the explanations of these data he has observed…Watch carefully and you will discover the two swiftest demons - they are nearly more swift than the speed of thought…”

— Abba Evagrius Ponticus(345-399 AD), Catholic mystic & monk, The Praktikos & Chapters on Prayer

Here in the 21st century, we tend to assign the turbulence of our minds to subconscious forces rather then demonic forces. But whether we are trying to take the measure of “some of the more fierce demons” or simply trying to become more centered in Christ, Evagrius’ advice is well worth heeding. He teaches us one of the most important practices of Christian Contemplation: Watchfulness - observing the rise and fall of our thoughts, to discern patterns, vices moving them, intensities, complexity, periodicity etc.

He envites contemplatives to track the emotional intensity, frequency, duration and associations of their thoughts, many of which are so fleeting that they tend to go unnoticed unless brought under disciplined scrutiny.

Scrupoli refers also to a technique that similarly requires pentrating introspection:

"…The reason why we have wrong judgment of the things we mentioned earlier is that we do not look deeply into them to see what they are, but conceive a liking for them or a dislike of them from the very first glance, judging by appearances. These likes and dislikes prejudice our mind and darken it; and so it cannot form a. right judgment of things as they really are. So, my brother, if you wish to be free of this prelest in your mind, keep strict attention over yourself; and when you see a thing with your eyes, or visualise it in your mind, keep a firm grip on your desires and do not allow yourself at the first glance either to conceive a liking for the thing or a dislike for it, but examine it in a detached way with the mind alone. Unobscured by passion, the mind then remains in a state natural to it, which is free and pure, and has the possibility to know the truth and to penetrate into the depths of a thing, where evil is often concealed under a deceptively attractive exterior and where good is sometimes hidden under a bad appearance.

But if desire comes first and at once either likes a thing or turns away from it, your mind no longer has the possibility to know it rightly as it should. For if this predisposition, or rather this passion precedes every judgment, it enters within, becomes a wall between the mind and the thing and, obscuring the mind, makes it form its judgment from passion. In other words, it sees it not as it really is, which strengthens still more its original predisposition. The further this predisposition runs ahead, or the more it likes or dislikes a thing, the more it obscures the mind in relation to it, until it darkens the mind completely. Then passion in relation to this thing reaches its ultimate limits, so that it appears to a man either as the most desirable or the most hateful of all the things he ever liked or disliked. Thus it happens that when the rule I have indicated is not observed, that is, when desire is not restrained from forming likes and dislikes before a thing is properly examined, then both these powers of the soul—mind and will—always work wrongly, plunging ever deeper and deeper from darkness to darkness, and from sin to sin.

So watch, my beloved, with all attention and protect yourself from liking or disliking a thing out of passion, before you have had time to examine it properly in the light of reason and the just word of the Divine Scriptures, in the light of grace and prayer, and with the help of the judgment of your spiritual father; otherwise you may sin in taking for evil what is truly good, and for good what is truly evil. This mostly happens in the case of certain actions, which are good and holy in themselves, but which according to circumstances,) namely that if they are done at a wrong time, or are out of place, or arc not done in the right measure, cause, considerable harm to those who do them, We know from experience what afflictions are suffered by some through such worthy and holy deeds…"

***- Lorenzo Scupoli (ca. 1530 – 1610), Italian Catholic mystic ***

Is this akin to Buddhist ‘mindfulness’?

Secondly, Saint Isaac:

“…What is a charitable heart? It is a heart aflame with charityfor the whole of Creation, for men, for birds, for beasts, for devils, for all creatures. He who hasthis heart will be unable to remember or see a creature without his eyes filling with tears becauseof the compassion that grips his heart; and that heart is softened and cannot endure to see even aslight pain inflicted on a creature or to hear of it through others; this is why such a man does notcease praying also for animals, for the enemies of the Truth, for those who do evil to him, so thatthey may be protected and purified; he even prays for reptiles, moved by an infinite pity which isawakened in the heart of those who assimilate themselves to God…”

- Saint Isaac the Syrian (died c. 700), Catholic mystic, Bishop & theologian

I think that this attitude is very in tune with Buddhism

 

[Bakmoon]

My dear Buddhist brothers and sisters

I have a couple of thoughts I would like to share with you on Abba Evagrius Ponticus (one of the greatest and most systematic theologians among the early Desert Fathers) & Saint Isaac the Syrian, a seventh century Syrian theologian who has had a potent influence in both the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches

First Abba Evagrius:

“…If there is any monk who wishes to take the measure of some of the more fierce passions so as to gain experience in his monastic art, then let him keep careful watch over his thoughts. Let him observe their intensity, their periods of decline and follow them as they rise and fall. Let him note well the complexity of his thoughts, their periodicity, the demons which cause them, with the order of their succession and the nature of their associations. Then let him ask from Christ the explanations of these data he has observed…Watch carefully and you will discover the two swiftest demons - they are nearly more swift than the speed of thought…”

This is fascinating to me. It is extremely similar to the practice of mindfulness, which is the development of awareness of the Body, Feeling, Mind, and Mind Objects. I will quote the Pali Canon to show the similarities with Abba Evagrius Ponticus:

C. Mind

"And how does a monk remain focused on the mind in & of itself? There is the case where a monk, when the mind has passion, discerns that the mind has passion. When the mind is without passion, he discerns that the mind is without passion. When the mind has aversion, he discerns that the mind has aversion. When the mind is without aversion, he discerns that the mind is without aversion. When the mind has delusion, he discerns that the mind has delusion. When the mind is without delusion, he discerns that the mind is without delusion.

"When the mind is constricted, he discerns that the mind is constricted. When the mind is scattered, he discerns that the mind is scattered. When the mind is enlarged, he discerns that the mind is enlarged. When the mind is not enlarged, he discerns that the mind is not enlarged. When the mind is surpassed, he discerns that the mind is surpassed. When the mind is unsurpassed, he discerns that the mind is unsurpassed. When the mind is concentrated, he discerns that the mind is concentrated. When the mind is not concentrated, he discerns that the mind is not concentrated. When the mind is released, he discerns that the mind is released. When the mind is not released, he discerns that the mind is not released.

"In this way he remains focused internally on the mind in & of itself, or externally on the mind in & of itself, or both internally & externally on the mind in & of itself. Or he remains focused on the phenomenon of origination with regard to the mind, on the phenomenon of passing away with regard to the mind, or on the phenomenon of origination & passing away with regard to the mind. Or his mindfulness that ‘There is a mind’ is maintained to the extent of knowledge & remembrance. And he remains independent, unsustained by (not clinging to) anything in the world. This is how a monk remains focused on the mind in & of itself.

MN 10 The Satipatthana Sutta
accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.010.than.html

Here in the 21st century, we tend to assign the turbulence of our minds to subconscious forces rather then demonic forces. But whether we are trying to take the measure of “some of the more fierce demons” or simply trying to become more centered in Christ, Evagrius’ advice is well worth heeding. He teaches us one of the most important practices of Christian Contemplation: Watchfulness - observing the rise and fall of our thoughts, to discern patterns, vices moving them, intensities, complexity, periodicity etc.

He envites contemplatives to track the emotional intensity, frequency, duration and associations of their thoughts, many of which are so fleeting that they tend to go unnoticed unless brought under disciplined scrutiny.

Scrupoli refers also to a technique that similarly requires pentrating introspection:

"…The reason why we have wrong judgment of the things we mentioned earlier is that we do not look deeply into them to see what they are, but conceive a liking for them or a dislike of them from the very first glance, judging by appearances. These likes and dislikes prejudice our mind and darken it; and so it cannot form a. right judgment of things as they really are. So, my brother, if you wish to be free of this prelest in your mind, keep strict attention over yourself; and when you see a thing with your eyes, or visualise it in your mind, keep a firm grip on your desires and do not allow yourself at the first glance either to conceive a liking for the thing or a dislike for it, but examine it in a detached way with the mind alone. Unobscured by passion, the mind then remains in a state natural to it, which is free and pure, and has the possibility to know the truth and to penetrate into the depths of a thing, where evil is often concealed under a deceptively attractive exterior and where good is sometimes hidden under a bad appearance.

I would call it development of equanimity rather than mindfulness, although they are not mutually exclusive by any means. Here is a quote on the subject of the development of equanimnity:

The Blessed One said: "Now how, Ananda, in the discipline of a noble one is there the unexcelled development of the faculties? There is the case where, when seeing a form with the eye, there arises in a monk what is agreeable, what is disagreeable, what is agreeable & disagreeable. He discerns that ‘This agreeable thing has arisen in me, this disagreeable thing… this agreeable & disagreeable thing has arisen in me. And that is compounded, gross, dependently co-arisen. But this is peaceful, this is exquisite, i.e., equanimity.’ With that, the arisen agreeable thing… disagreeable thing… agreeable & disagreeable thing ceases, and equanimity takes its stance. Just as a man with good eyes, having closed them, might open them; or having opened them, might close them, that is how quickly, how rapidly, how easily, no matter what it refers to, the arisen agreeable thing… disagreeable thing… agreeable & disagreeable thing ceases, and equanimity takes its stance. In the discipline of a noble one, this is called the unexcelled development of the faculties with regard to forms cognizable by the eye.

(Similarly with the other senses as well as thoughts.)

MN 152 The Indriya-Bhavana Sutta
accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.152.than.html

The technique is almost identical I think. Equanimity and mindfulness aren’t mutually exclusive by any means, of course. Mindfulness is at its best when it is purified by the presence of strong equanimity.

 

[Vouthon]

My dear brother Bakmoon

Thank you very much for those insightful quotations from the Suttas!

You have confirmed my ‘hunch’ that Abba Evagrius’ teachings on watchfulness (which are really a systematization of earlier teachings of the Desert Fathers, improved by his own insight and experience) bear a striking similarity to the Buddha’s teachings on mindfulness.

Abba Evagrius is famous among Eastern Christian mystics (Hesychasts) for his oft-quoted aphorisms of short length but stunning profundity, such as: “Prayer is the shedding, the letting go thoughts and concepts…The divine light only appears to the intellect during prayer when the intellect is free from mental images”.

He possessed a rare and penetrating power of intuition which enabled him to take the rather scattered and disorganised precepts of the Desert monks preceding him and shape their way of life into a systematic mystical theology that bears much resemblance to modern psychology, in a variety of respects.

This may interest you:

Evagrius Ponticus (345-399 A.D.), taught a form of hesychasm (Greek: quiet) in which one comes to see the conditioned links between thoughts and emotions, and then, through meditation and prayer, finds a deep calm called* apatheia*. In apatheia the mind is integrated and purified of its naturally tumultuous activity, allowing one to simply “be” in God’s presence or to pray without distraction. Monks such as Evagrius believed that virtue in one’s speech and behavior would follow freely from a mind that is emptied of distracting thoughts.

Abba Evagrius is a notable authority in the Philokalia (the chief compendium of mystical authors central to the Hesychast tradition) as well as the Sayings of the Desert Fathers and is thus one of the earliest proto-founders of what would later become full-blown Hesychasm.

He encouraged monks to carefully observe their thoughts, just as the Lord Buddha did in those quotations you provide, to learn more about them and thus to allow this observation to go on without interference. Eventually, through the grace of God, the practioner would reach apatheia, a state of deep inner calm and imperturbability which represented freedom of the mind from the power and domination of the passions.

Read this also brother Bakmoon:

“…Saint Augustine speaks of a higher part of the mind reserved for the contemplation of God and a lower part of the mind that reasons. Evagrius Ponticus, a fourth-century monk, is one of a host of contemplative writers to make an important distinction between the calculating, reasoning mind that makes use of concepts in a process we call ratiocination or discursive thought, and that dimension of mind that comes to knowledge directly, without the mediation of concepts. This he later called nous, an intuitive spiritual intelligence. And so when he defines prayer as ‘communion of the mind with God,’ he means a dimension of our conciousness that runs deeper than the discursive process of ratiocination…Saint Thomas Aquinas takes up this same distinction and can be said to speak for virtually the entire tradition when he calls this aspect of mind that thinks and calculates ‘lower reason’ (ratio inferior) and that aspect of the mind that communes directly with God in contemplation ‘higher reason’ (ratio superior) . Standing on the shoulders of everyone, Date states it most succinctly in The Divine Comedy, ‘Reason, even when supported by the senses, has short wings’…”

- Fr Martin Laird, modern Catholic contemplative writer & priest

Sister Notself showed me a fascinating video in which a neuroscientist/neurosurgeon seemed to confirm this distinction between the discursive mind and the other side of the brain, which was without discursive thought.

I would be intrigued to learn more about this distinction from Buddhist sources!

I will focus more on Abba Evagrius in the next couple of posts, explaining in greater depth his systematic understanding of the spiritual path, to hopefully find more areas of commonality between his thought (which is central to both Eastern and Western monasctism - Western through Saint John Cassian who adhered to the Evagrian ‘school’ one could say and transmitted much of his mysticism to the West through his Conferences and Institutes) and Buddhism.

BTW Here is a better translation of that teaching on compassion by Saint Isaac the Syrian (there are variant translations, because Saint Isaac’s writings were copied so many times into different languages):

“…What is ascetic purity, in a nutshell? A heart which burns with compassion for every thing in creation - not only for human beings, but for birds, animals, reptiles, and everything that is, even for demons, for the enemies of truth, and for those who cause you harm - all as a result of an intense compassion, like God’s own, infused in one’s heart without measure…”

***- Saint Isaac the Syrian (died c. 700), Catholic mystic, Bishop & theologian ***

 

[Vouthon]

Little typo in above post. Abba Evagrius said:

“Prayer is the shedding, the letting go of thoughts and concepts”

 

[Bakmoon]

My dear brother Bakmoon

Thank you very much for those insightful quotations from the Suttas!

You have confirmed my ‘hunch’ that Abba Evagrius’ teachings on watchfulness (which are really a systematization of earlier teachings of the Desert Fathers, improved by his own insight and experience) bear a striking similarity to the Buddha’s teachings on mindfulness.

Abba Evagrius is famous among Eastern Christian mystics (Hesychasts) for his oft-quoted aphorisms of short length but stunning profundity, such as: “Prayer is the shedding, the letting go thoughts and concepts…The divine light only appears to the intellect during prayer when the intellect is free from mental images”.

He possessed a rare and penetrating power of intuition which enabled him to take the rather scattered and disorganised precepts of the Desert monks preceding him and shape their way of life into a systematic mystical theology that bears much resemblance to modern psychology, in a variety of respects.

This may interest you:

Evagrius Ponticus (345-399 A.D.), taught a form of hesychasm (Greek: quiet) in which one comes to see the conditioned links between thoughts and emotions, and then, through meditation and prayer, finds a deep calm called apatheia. In apatheia the mind is integrated and purified of its naturally tumultuous activity, allowing one to simply “be” in God’s presence or to pray without distraction. Monks such as Evagrius believed that virtue in one’s speech and behavior would follow freely from a mind that is emptied of distracting thoughts.

Fascinating. The Pali Suttas present things quite similarly. If you replace the Greek word “Apatheia” with the Pali word “Upekkha” (meaning equanimity) and you can’t tell the diference between Buddhist instructions and the Catholic ones!

Read this also brother Bakmoon:

“…Saint Augustine speaks of a higher part of the mind reserved for the contemplation of God and a lower part of the mind that reasons. Evagrius Ponticus, a fourth-century monk, is one of a host of contemplative writers to make an important distinction between the calculating, reasoning mind that makes use of concepts in a process we call ratiocination or discursive thought, and that dimension of mind that comes to knowledge directly, without the mediation of concepts. This he later called nous, an intuitive spiritual intelligence. And so when he defines prayer as ‘communion of the mind with God,’ he means a dimension of our conciousness that runs deeper than the discursive process of ratiocination…Saint Thomas Aquinas takes up this same distinction and can be said to speak for virtually the entire tradition when he calls this aspect of mind that thinks and calculates ‘lower reason’ (ratio inferior) and that aspect of the mind that communes directly with God in contemplation ‘higher reason’ (ratio superior) . Standing on the shoulders of everyone, Date states it most succinctly in The Divine Comedy, ‘Reason, even when supported by the senses, has short wings’…”
**

• Fr Martin Laird, modern Catholic contemplative writer & priest**

Buddhism also makes a distinction between the thinking and non-thinking parts of the mind, but one is not said to be higher than the other. The basic model of the person in Theravada Buddhism is the model of the five aggregates. A person is a composite of five different groups of things. They are: Rupa which means form, refering to the physical body, Vedana which means feeling and refers to the aspect of sensory experience which classes things as pleasurable, painful, or neutral, Sañña which means perception and refers to the interpretations which arise during sensory experience, Sankhara meaning the acts of the will and includes thoughts, and Viññana which is the awareness of the sense object itself.

 

[notself]

Vouthon;9727151]
BTW Here is a better translation of that teaching on compassion by Saint Isaac the Syrian (there are variant translations, because Saint Isaac’s writings were copied so many times into different languages):

Quote:
“…What is ascetic purity, in a nutshell? A heart which burns with compassion for every thing in creation - not only for human beings, but for birds, animals, reptiles, and everything that is, even for demons, for the enemies of truth, and for those who cause you harm - all as a result of an intense compassion, like God’s own, infused in one’s heart without measure…”

• Saint Isaac the Syrian (died c. 700), Catholic mystic, Bishop & theologian

St. Isaac was speaking of Metta.

,even so should one cultivate a limitless heart
with regard to all beings.
With good will for the entire cosmos,
cultivate a limitless heart:
Above, below, & all around,
unobstructed, without hostility or hate.
Whether standing, walking,
sitting, or lying down,
as long as one is alert,
one should be resolved on this mindfulness.
This is called a sublime abiding
here & now.

A simple practice of compassion is to capture and release to the out doors any little insects or spiders that enter one’s home. The act of capture allows one to see the little creature as a being which is capable of fear and therefore one feels the arising of compassion. Taking it outdoors and releasing it allows one to feel the arising of loving kindness.

 

[Vouthon]

St. Isaac was speaking of Metta.

A simple practice of compassion is to capture and release to the out doors any little insects or spiders that enter one’s home. The act of capture allows one to see the little creature as a being which is capable of fear and therefore one feels the arising of compassion. Taking it outdoors and releasing it allows one to feel the arising of loving kindness.

Wow!

Wonderful quote on metta and boundless compassion for the suffering of other sentient beings. In Mahayana Buddhism, I have always admired the vow taken to not attain nirvana until one has helped liberate as many suffering beings as possible. This is surely, even for those who do not believe in reincarnation (Catholics) or the concept of Boddhisatva in the Mahayans context (Therevadins), one of the mightiest ideals one could aim for in this life, such seflessness.

The practice which you suggest is practical yet powerful in so many ways. It shows true regard for the weakest and most defenseless creatures. I have heard that Jains always mop seats before they sit down just to make sure that they don’t sit on any insects that might be lurking there, I have always considered this to be a stunning commitment to non-violence.

It reminds me of a memory from my childhood. When I was six years old, I stepped on a fly and was so overcome with sorrow that I had taken a life, that I put its body in a little box and kept it My parents must have thought that they had a really strange child, but I just felt deeply sorry for stepping on an innocent creature that was capable of suffering pain. I even - in my childish innocence - gave it a name that I wrote on the box. I even have a little diary entry in which I express my sorrow!

What can I say except that I was crazy even back then

I see nothing more noble and cannot extol the Buddha’s teachings in this respect enough.

 

[chataranga]

There is a saying in yoga “Yoga is 99% practice and 1% theory.” Also yoga is viewed as an experiential practice. It seems to me that both Catholicism and Buddhism are the same, that is experiential practices though I never really thought of that before. I do not spend the bulk of my time practicing meditation or prayer, but the time that I do spend on these activities is made more beneficial in my view in part due to my hatha yoga practice (postures and breath work). I feel more open and aware after a posture practice and that as I understand it is one of the reasons for having a physical practice.
So my question is: does anyone have a physical practice that they feel helps them to deepen their meditation or prayer practice? Not necessarily a yoga practice. It can be running,swimming, etc. The purpose is to quiet the puppy/monkey mind and physical practices help me with this. If you don’t have this sort of practice you may want to give it a try and see what you experience. Blessings and stay safe.

 

[router123]

From the Theravadin perspective, you are essentially asking whether or not I have unshakable faith in the teachings. I prefer merchant account not to answer this question because unshakable faith is a characteristic only found among those who have attained to at least the Sotapanna level of enlightenment, so I can’t answer your question without revealing very personal information regarding my own personal attainments.

Talking about one’s own attainments is a major taboo in Theravadin circles and is almost always confined to discussion with one’s teacher. I wouldn’t feel comfortable talking about it in a public forum.

(I just thought I should say something on that subject so you wouldn’t think I was being evasive by not bringing up the matter in the first place. I hope this post doesn’t come across as standoffish.)

Amazing post thanks for share…

 

[notself]

Disclosing one’s attainments has always been frowned on in Theravada. This is to prevent laypeople from being taken advantage of by frauds. If someone claims to have reached the goal, one can be assured that that person is a lying and a fraud.

For the same reason, the Buddha also banned the selling of amulets and the telling of fortunes, but Asia being what it is, breaches this ban on every street corner. Any Buddhist who has actually read the suttas, know that astrology, fortune telling, and amulets were ridiculed by the Buddha.

chataganga,

You mentioned reaching a meditative state through various exercises and asked if other did as well. I find it easy to be mindful and have good concentration when weeding my garden or when doing dishes by hand. I think it is the repetitive slow movement that makes concentration easy.

 

[chataranga]

Thank you notself. I wouldn’t have thought of weeding a garden or washing dishes as a phyiscal practice in the sense I meant, but they are physical practices and I agree that when I’m paying attention to what I’m doing (such as those activities) really present that is that I do feel more serene and find it easier to meditate later on. Thanks for the (name removed by moderator)ut.Blessings.

 

[melvinbarden]

Sometimes I take humor seriously. Sometimes I take seriousness humorously. Either way it is irrelevant.

get info here

 

[notself]

The post 494 is spam. It should be removed.

 

[Vouthon]

Dear brother Bakmoon and sister Notself

A little thought on mysticism again, this time from the holy Saint Augustine - one of the greatest Fathers of the Church. He interpreted the Third Commandment in an explicitly allegorical fashion in his sermons, extrapolating from this simple, ancient moral injuction a psychological analysis of some rather profound depth. I think it would be nice to compare such a crucial Western (Latin) Church Father - who is so influential for both Catholicism and Protestantism - if it were possible, with Buddhist thought.

So here goes. Here is a quote from Augustine’s Sermon on the Third Commandment "…'Remember the sabbath day, to sanctify it’. The third commandment enjoins a regular, periodical holiday - quietness of heart, tranquility of mind. This is holiness, the product of a clear conscience. Because here is the Spirit of God. This is what a true holiday means, quietness and rest. Unquiet people recoil from the Holy Spirit. They love quarreling. They love argument. In their restlessness they do not allow the silence of the Lord’s Sabbath to enter their lives, the quietness of the spiritual sabbath to enter into their lives. Against such restlessness we are offered a kind of Sabbath in the heart. As if God were saying ‘stop being so restless, quieten the uproar in your minds. Let go of the idle fantasies that fly around in your head.’ God is saying, 'Be still and see that I am God." (Ps 46) But you refuse to be still. You are like the Egyptians tormented by gnats. These tiniest of flies, always restless, flying about aimlessly, swarm at your eyes, giving no rest. They are back as soon as you drive them off. Just like the futile fantasies that swarm in our minds. Keep the commandment. Beware of this plague…We are not ordered to keep the sabbath day by a literal corporal abstinence from work, as the Jews observe it — and, indeed, that observance of theirs, because it is so commanded, is considered ludicrous unless it signifies some other spiritual rest…The only commandment which is given figuratively is the one by which rest is enjoined…But the rite of the sabbath was taught to our ancient Fathers which we Christians observe spiritually, so that we abstain from all servile work, that is, from sin and we have rest in our hearts, that is, spiritual tranquility…"

- Saint Augustine of Hippo (354 –430), Church Father, mystic & Doctor of the Church

To Saint Augustine the “Sabbath” means a peaceful mind, a rest within from the plague of discursive thinking.

As Martin Laird explains when commenting on this passage:

“…After seasons of practice, the fruit is the stillness, inner focus, and recollection of that dimension of human awareness that thinks, chatters, obsesses, and swarms like a plague of gnats. St Augustine’s vivid description of this in his Sermon on the Third Commandment, keeping holy the Sabbath, has the ring of personal experience…”

***- Fr Martin Laird, modern Catholic contemplative writer & priest ***

I have always enjoyed understanding the Third Commandment (its the Fourth Commandment in Eastern Orthodoxy and Judaism) in this very spiritual, mindful fashion. I suspect that any contemplative would rejoice in thinking of keeping the stillness and interior silence as a Sabbath Day rest in the heart; we also are aware of the gnats that swarm around us, those many thoughts in our head which distract our focus.

 

[notself]

There is a ceremony in Buddhism that occurs based on the phases of the moon called Uposatha. In addition to the Five Precepts, lay people undertake three more Precepts for the day and the night. They are to Refrain from eating after midday; to Refrain from wearing ornaments or perfumes and from all forms of entertainments; to Refrain from sleeping on luxurious beds (to control sensuality). Along with the restraint of the Eight Precepts, the day is spent in meditation and mindfulness.

Uposatha is not mandatory in the way that Sabbath observance is but one could say that Uposatha is similar to the Christian Sabbath in the spirit of Augustine.

 

[Vouthon]

There is a ceremony in Buddhism that occurs based on the phases of the moon called Uposatha. In addition to the Five Precepts, lay people undertake three more Precepts for the day and the night. They are to Refrain from eating after midday; to Refrain from wearing ornaments or perfumes and from all forms of entertainments; to Refrain from sleeping on luxurious beds (to control sensuality). Along with the restraint of the Eight Precepts, the day is spent in meditation and mindfulness.

Uposatha is not mandatory in the way that Sabbath observance is but one could say that Uposatha is similar to the Christian Sabbath in the spirit of Augustine.

This is fascinating sister Notself, thank you! I had never heard of Uposatha before but I am now going to read up on it. I have always liked Augustine’s interpretation of the Sabbath - which he did not even strictly associate with the Sabbath day (Saturday in Judaism, Sunday in Christianity) - but with a state of mind. I think that a lot of Christians have a mechanical view of Church attendance on Sunday, rather than using it as an opportunity for “rest” ie inner rest from discursive thinking, time for contemplation - especially, I think, during the Holy Mass (corporate worship) itself, rather than simply going through the motions.

It is wonderful that Buddhism has a parralel to this, with an optional day of increased meditation, mindfulness and additional precepts for laity. I am ever impressed by your faith!