Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Aparigraha

The last of the yamas is aparigraha, which means in different senses to not have greed, or to not have jealousy, but like a lot of translated words with in-between definitions like that, it might help to conflate the various entries. So, we would have a "greed that is rooted in jealousy."

It might be obvious to approach this from a generalized Buddhist perspective, with the greed rooted in wanting something or to be as some aspect of another, because we perceive it as better, being interpreted as a desire. That is, operating on the principle that an unhealthy desire will lead to suffering (note that important point that not all desire has to be considered bad, however - for example, having a desire to be happy is healthy, or to develop one's virtues). And, directed externally, having greedy envy or jealousy of someone else or their possessions can sour the relationship, with bitterness and resentment.

One somewhat more subtle way I've noticed how aparigraha can affect my own life is that the jealousy/greed doesn't actually have to be directed at a person or object - it can be for an idea, or even an ideal. In having this envious desire of some perfect image of something, an obsessive greed to have a perfect life or a perfect relationship, the bitterness and resentment mentioned above can be turned against the self and the 'not-perfect' actuality of that ideal or relationship, along with the suffering of an unfulfilled desire. And in that sense, for me personally at any rate, that negative is especially insidious, and so aparigraha is unexpectedly that much more important for me to work on developing.
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The Evolution of Consciousness - a very interesting article, from Kevin by way of his brother

-haven't quite figured out a solid meaning for this, but it seems interesting:
"The mind creates the abyss, and the heart crosses it." - Sri Nisargadatta

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