Today’s essay was initiated after my attendance at a men’s group meeting last week that explored with some intensity, ‘anger’. The quality and the nature of the discussion inspired me to do a deep dive into my own anger. With that I was, again, to find remnants from my familial past, this time linked to my father. That surprised me. I look at how anger manifests in my body as pain, and how I manage to not see it in my self at the same time. The self investigation took an interesting path as my writing muse looked at my own failure to see that anger as expressing the yogic/buddhist concept of what in Sanskrit is known vidyà / avidyà, which means to see / to not see. With that look I explored more deeply a few specific instances of how some of the key official teachings of Buddhism directly contradict some key even critical teachings of Siddhārtha Gautama.
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I discover that Gautama also struggled with avidyà! That his near death by austere yogic practices is just that and, it was when he touched his body, that he saw the reality of his actions as pernicious, a form of life-denial leading to his own physical death. It was after that realisation, one sparked by his touching the reality of his mortal self, that he had his big change of awareness. Buddhist teachings deny that that physicality of changed state of awareness is central to Gautama’s teachings. The teachers continue with a denial of reality not that different in intention from Gautama’s self-abnegation practices that led him to starve himself nearly out of existence. So, a big chew! Anger, blindness as cause of personal distress, Buddhism as elevating the denial of the importance of being alive and how that relates to what I call bully Stockholm Syndrome and our ’naturally’ narcissistic social structures.
Great stuff!
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Playlists
Spotify
YouTube Music
YouTube Talk
Some of the Links:
[to written essay]
Charlie Kirk
Jordan Peterson
The Rebirth of God: Pathology and Promise | Jamie Wheal| EP 485.
Pali Canon
Guy’s essays referenced
![Q: 'I agree that [yogic calmness] is important, how do we account for all the yoga teachers who fly Ukraine flags and require masks in their studios?' A: Yoga as drug.](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_140,h_140,c_fill,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep,g_auto/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3d594d7e-70ac-4e17-9b4f-e39984858dfc_1113x1179.jpeg)
Michael Stone Podcast:
Online Text of Instructions for the Cook (Tenzo kyôkun) by Dogen.
Note
I’m still looking for financial help following the ‘out of the blue’ pacemaker surgery that was likely a form of deep shadow work, and that cleaned out my bank account. If you are curious about that and/or would like to help me, go to:
I appreciate that you shared with me today your precious time. I am honoured.
All the best with what is changing. Everything changes! With peace, respect, love and exuberant joy.
🙏❤️🧘♂️☯️🧘♂️❤️🙏
On Anger, Others’ and Where to Mine Mine Mindfully — In the Body — Audio