[Buddha-l] Hope

[Jackhat1 at aol.com]

In a message dated 3/18/2010 11:11:29 A.M. Central Daylight Time,  
joy.vriens at gmail.com writes:

Mike's point about relaxation (acceptance?) makes sense. If  evaluation,
comparison and analysis lead to relaxation then they have  served their
purpose. But there are other ways of arriving at the same  relaxation.

There are different approaches of the present moment and of  being in (or
being conscious of) the present moment, if that is what one  wants to do.
Technically there can be the moment, followed by a moment of  consciousness
of that moment. Being mindful of the first moment then  entails in fact two
moments. Moreover if being mindful of the present  moment (as a moment)
implies to totally adhere to it, then there is no  space for anything else.
Do you see what I mean? E.g. if you are walking,  you would be conscious of
the walking, but you couldn't be simultaneous  aware of the present moment,
timewise. Being mindful of the present moment  is in fact being mindful full
stop. As long as one is mindful the "present  moment" can't be degraded.
===
I meant mind moment when I say moment. The actual "outside" moment is  
different time-wise from the "inner" mind moment. I'm not sure what you mean  by 
"Being mindful of the present moment is in fact being mindful full  stop."
==============

Yet one is being mindful, because one took the  resolution to be mindful. So
the mindfulness is somehow running at the same  time as that resolution. The
resolution didn't appear out of the blue.  Something must have triggered
it. What? A desire for change, not  necessarily of reality, but of one's
attitude towards reality. So I see the  mindfulness taking place as long as
the desire for some good, the  resolution to go for it and favourable
conditions are there. That is as far  as the mindfulness produced by effort
is concerned. At one point one may  lose the "effort bit", which means the
initial resistance disappears. But I  believe that somehow there still is an
undercurrent of the desire and the  resolution.
====
As I said, there is a difference between tanha (desire) and chanda  
(intention). I


When I go start a new type of meditation, say meditation on the 4  material 
elements. I sit with a resolution to do so. I consciously direct my  mind. 
But, after several sessions of this, I just go back to just sitting  without 
any directing, effort or intention. So, I think most of my  meditation 
sessions are in this latter category--just sitting.
 
I think we agree on all this.
 
 
jack