March 5th Daily Enlightenment: Mara

[ophidimancer]

Did the Buddha fight Mara?
No-He watched him...
real closely...
and he was vanquished.

Are you fighting your inner demons?
Why not just stand aside and watch them?
Just observe-but see them clearly.
Something strange happens-
they disappear in the light of mindfulness.I was having a very good conversation last night about personal demons and

Comments

[aulic_exclusiva]

My personal demons bore me.

Tell me about yours.

[ophidimancer]

"My personal demons bore me."

Ahh. Pride, no? ;-)

Anyway, I think my most prevalent demon is sloth, to stay within Dante's terminology, though I would say it is me failing to live up to Right Livelihood. I just don't do my best in all or even most cases, even though I know I should.

I also have a lot of secret pride.

[aulic_exclusiva]

And how does this hidden inner pride manifest itself?

[ophidimancer]

Usually private thoughts about how much more enlightened I am than others. When I catch myself doing it, I just have to laugh at myself.

And then there's the pride in my singing and the absolutely ludicrous pride in my knowledge of certain RPG's.

How about you? Have you taken time to be conscious of your thoughts and emotions today? Have you noticed your thoughts running on endlessly without your conscious volition?