[Buddha-l] Withdrawal of the senses

[Dan Lusthaus]

Plotinus is a pivotal neoplatonist. Reading Indian thought as an exotic
version of neoplatonism (or gnosticism) is a misleading -- though
entrenched -- distortion. Controlling the senses in Buddhism and the Gita
means to remain detached within the sensorium, not to shut down sensation
itself. Detachment in this context means that pleasurable sensations don't
condition one to desire positively, and painful sensations don't condition
one to hate or avoid.

Dan Lusthaus



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Malcolm Dean" <malcolmdean at gmail.com>
To: <buddha-l at mailman.swcp.com>
Sent: Tuesday, November 14, 2006 4:59 PM
Subject: [Buddha-l] Withdrawal of the senses


> More on the idea of withdrawing the senses. - M.
>
>
http://www.ellopos.net/elpenor/greek-texts/ancient-greece/plotinus_soul-source.asp
>
> "In sum, we must withdraw from all the extern, pointed wholly inwards;
> no leaning to the outer; the total of things ignored, first in their
> relation to us and later in the very idea; the self put out of mind in
> the contemplation of the Supreme; all the commerce so closely There
> that, if report were possible, one might become to others reporter of
> that communion."
>
> Plotinus : The Soul's movement will be about its source
> from the Enneads 6.9.7-11, Translated by Stephen Mackenna and B. S. Page
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