In what ways you advance on the path ?

Question

In what ways you advance on the path?

• is it by lowering the hindrances ? or your ability to notice them ? you get a greater ability to not attach and let go ?

im trying to understand in what ways we advance - i mean before becoming a sotapanna what do you improve throw meditation

and if you answer for example : " you have less ill will your less angry" do you mean we lower the anger levels - if so how - did i remove existing anger "seeds" or did i improve my ability to notice and let go of anger - and if so is this an ability which builds up from meditaiton to meditation ?

i would appreciate everything you can expand on the subject of advancing in the path

Answer 1

The path is lead by right view, which is wisdom.

Each hindrance is the drive/motivation to do harm or enslave. Therefore, to advance on the path, it is ideal that wisdom investigate each hindrance & examine why its motive is harmful &/or enslaving.

If the mind is not a slave to hindrances, to enter sotapanna the mind must have the selflessness to 'let go'. Sotapanna will not be entered with force or will power. It will be entered by dropping ego & self. For some people who are very ethical or harmless, dropping the self can be difficult because it can be like 'dying' existentially.

Therefore, a good way to advance on the path is to focus on being a harmless & unselfish person and to also abide regularly in solitude so existential fear can be overcome.

For example, if you live in society, you can find somewhere, like some bushland or empty beach, to meditate alone a few nights a week.

Answer 2

The “Thayodhamma Sutta” in the Anguttara Nikaya tells you how to go about it, @breath. It explain in full why and how to practice the spiritual life. Specifically this sutta describes what you should avoid or irradiate in order to achieve Nibbana. Thayo means Three – so it is abandoning three things at a time towards Path Fruition.

To abandon 1. Birth 2. Old age 3. Death

You have to abandon: 1. Greed (passion); 2. Hatred; 3. Delusion

To abandon the above three you have to abandon: 1. Personality view; 2. Doubt; 3. Rituals and observances.

To abandon the above three you have to abandon: 1. Drowsiness of the mind; 2. Following the wrong path; 3. Unwise attention.

To abandon the above three you have to abandon: 1. Unmindfulness (wrong mindfulness); 2. Unawareness; 3. Mental distraction.

To abandon the above three you have to abandon: 1. Dislike to see the noble ones; 2. Dislike to hear the noble teachings; 3. Fault-finding mind.

To abandon the above three you have to abandon: 1. Conceit; 2. Unrestraint; 3. Immorality.

To abandon the above three you have to abandon: 1. Lack of confidence; 2. Dislike to listen to others; 3. Laziness.

To abandon the above three you have to abandon: 1. Unfriendliness; 2. Disobedience; 3. Bad Friends (Asathpurisa Sevanaya).

To abandon the above three you have to abandon: 1. Shamelessness; 2. Fearlessness; 3. Non-diligence.

Answer 3

A good first step to advancing on the path is by increasing one's mindfulness. Motivation and meditation are sufficient to do that, and this will start to show you specific instances where you are encountering hindrances or could do better.

For example, if you are walking impatiently and end up continually advancing in front of a friend rather than walking side by side with him, mindfulness may show you that you are doing this because of impatience to reach a goal, a desire for that goal, and clinging as well as a tendency to live in the future, rather than the present.

Mindfulness is a powerful tool at many stages along the path, it will show you many sides of yourself, details of your own reactions, the hidden parts of your nature that we usually don't get to see. It is a key factor for early advancement on the path.

In terms of the seeds, my understanding is that it depends on which ones we "water". The nutrients we take in, be they newspapers, movies or actual food, can feed our store of seeds. So you can choose to feed a seed of anger or a seed of calmness, which may help you to stay detached when anger comes to visit.