text:
Could anyone please help me identify/translate this mantra?
It appears at the top of two different thangkas in a gompa, one representing Sakyamuni and another one with Vajrasattva in yab yum, and I am unable to find what it means.please help me clarify what mantra is that?

I had no luck trying to identify this with OCR, but the second and fourth character on the bottom row (from the left) look like Punjabi, not Tibetan.

This is Lantsa script.
The top character is hrīḥ
The mantra reads: oṃ ma ṇi pa dme hūṃ
i.e. oṃ maṇipadme hūm the mantra of Avalokiteśavara. Note that contra popular opinion, maṇīpadme is one word. And the -e ending is a Prakrit nominative singular, not a Sanskrit locative singular or whatever.
For more on this mantra see: https://www.visiblemantra.org/avalokitesvara.html


text:
What is the source and meaning of this quote of the Buddha's: "Everything rests upon the tip of intention"?
I've heard this quote in a few places, attributed to the Buddha. Prominently, Tara Brach uses it. It varies sometimes:

"Everything rests on the tip of one's motivation."
“Everything rests on the point of intention.”

But the gist is always the same.

Where in the Tripiṭaka (or elsewhere) does this quote originate?
How can we understand this quote? What is this "tip of intention"? Is it perhaps translated from mano, as in 'intending mind', or some link in the chain of dependent origination, or something else?

In particular I am thinking about this discussion of Pali translations of consciousness, intention and mind: https://discourse.suttacentral.net/t/on-the-first-lines-of-the-dhammapada/18718?replies_to_post_number=16

the start of the adage 'everything rests...' is ironic, it's just the opposite - intending that is..

It may be helpful to study AN3.61, in which the Buddha teaches us to be careful about thoughts concerning "everything":

AN3.61:1.1: “Mendicants, these three sectarian tenets—as pursued, pressed, and grilled by the astute—when taken to their conclusion, end with inaction.
AN3.61:1.2: What three?
AN3.61:1.3: There are some ascetics and brahmins who have this doctrine and view:
> AN3.61:1.4: ‘Everything this individual experiences—pleasurable, painful, or neutral—is because of past deeds.’
AN3.61:1.5: There are some ascetics and brahmins who have this doctrine and view:
AN3.61:1.6: ‘Everything this individual experiences—pleasurable, painful, or neutral—is because of the Lord God’s creation.’
AN3.61:1.7: There are some ascetics and brahmins who have this doctrine and view:
AN3.61:1.8: ‘Everything this individual experiences—pleasurable, painful, or neutral—has no cause or reason.’

In this case, thinking that past deeds are motivated by intention/motivation, we can see that we have to be wary of falling into inaction. Inaction is not a path. Neither is intention.
It is perhaps more important to ask about skillful intention. Intention can be skillful or unskillful. And only skillful intention leads us along the Noble Eightfold Path. AN10.217 discusses skillful intention.

AN10.217:19.3: There are three kinds of successful mental action that have skillful intention, with happiness as their outcome
and result.
AN10.217:20.1: And what are the three kinds of successful bodily action?
AN10.217:20.2: It’s when a certain person gives up killing living creatures. They renounce the rod and the sword. They’re scrupulous and kind, living full of compassion for all living beings.

Interestingly, the tip of intention can also be focused on emptiness. A really good meditation intent on emptiness is taught in MN121.

MN121:4.2: There is only this that is not emptiness, namely, the oneness dependent on the mendicant Saṅgha.
MN121:4.3: In the same way, a mendicant—ignoring the perception of the village and the perception of people—focuses on the oneness dependent on the perception of wilderness.

If you can add your comment to my answer in your answer, I'll uptick.

MN121 is indeed quite amazing.

I'm going to mark this one as the correct answer just for the sheer quantity of references, but I do also very much appreciate @Max's answer.

I don't know where that quote originates from, but in reference to intention, it sort of works like this...
Firstly, intention is a potential in the mind which doesn't fully engage until it is expressed through one or all of three mediums, in those cases intention then becomes kamma, which simply means action from which something is put together in the world. Those three mediums are voice, physical actions and thoughts and are sometimes referred to as sankharas often translated as intentions, which may or may not be helpful. It becomes problematic when fragmenting this into a process, due to determining where the intention lies. The punchline is that it lies nowhere, that is the illusion. At best, one could say that intentions are self-ideas that lose themselves to gross feelings, but we have to speak about it as though it is 'something' to look for, so that one can see it is not actually there.
That potential (intention) is made up of a few things: firstly, something has to colour or impede a sense organ. Let's say someone walked into your room and this person caused you some upset several weeks ago. Your eye points towards that person, and in that instant of connection, there is a subtle sensation. Baked inside that sensation is an interpretation or a perception, but it is not intelligible to the conscious mind, therefore it bypasses the objective reasoning attributes of the mind and kickstarts those familiar gross feelings like irritation. In this particular scenario, the sensation has an aversive quality to it, which fires up irritation. This may then lead you to perform an action: perhaps you'll shout at them (speech); perhaps you'll stick your middle finger up at them (actions); or perhaps you'll think nasty things about them (thoughts).
This largely unseen sensation/perception boots up a gross feeling like irritation or anger. It is inside those feelings where a person seems to emerge, simply because we didn't look closely at what was happening in the body. For most people, these subtle sensations/perceptions are lingering just on the periphery of their awareness, so one meanders through life responding unconsciously to these subtle sensations, and wonders why they suffer so much.
The fascinating thing about this is, when one tries to find who owns those sensations and their resulting actions, there is nobody there. I remember when that collapsed for me. I was looking into this person who thought he was angry; I persistently looked in and around the anger, and one day, the illusion broke apart. There was no such thing as intention. That was fetters 4 & 5. Those two fetters create such incredible kamma, it's actually quite astonishing! They are the rebirthing fetters. In the Theravada scheme, having broken those two, one is then seen as a non-returner, as no more rebirthing kamma can be created, so severing fetters 4 & 5 stops a lot of suffering.
The idea that there is somebody there is the illusion, and how do we define an illusion? Something that initially appears to be there, but which isn't. That is why the Buddha said, "form is like a glob of foam, feeling a bubble, perception a mirage, intention a banana tree [hollow and empty,] consciousness a magic trick.

I suppose you are referring to the Phena Sutta where "intention" is translated variously as "volitional formation", "mental formation", "choice"

I have to say, perceiving the emptiness of the active self is quite a tough nut to crack experientially. How to undermine the concept of conceiving without action on the side of the conceiver?! I suppose this gets to the depth within my question: what is right intention in meditation, if intention is illusory? Does "intending non-intention", along the lines of the Zen instruction "think non-thinking", seem like a decent line of practice?

"what you intend or plan... becomes a support for the continuation of consciousness. If you don’t intend or plan or have underlying tendencies, this doesn’t become a support for the continuation of consciousness... That is how this entire mass of suffering ceases.". I suppose the point here is that it's not enough to just 'stop doing'; the point is to realise the empty nature of intention?

Maybe I'm looking at this wrong. I'm thinking how to 'put together' a really good meditative intention, pulling together all the ingredients that might condition it — in order to perceive emptiness in more and more ways. What I'm hearing from your answer is that it might be helpful to practice realising the conditionality of view / fabrication / 'putting together' / intention / sankhara at all — and, in particular, explore its non-self character.

@yellow-saint- yes, it becomes quite a conundrum, doesn't it? I'll be honest with you, I don't know of many people who can slice through fetters 4 & 5 in that way. It had taken me 3 months of daily looking, but there needed to be a strong feeling (anger) and what appeared to be an intention to act upon those strong feelings. That's the best time to catch the illusion, when it is front and centre and thus visible. Right intention is a practice-based system called the eightfold path, but even this is stripped of its systematization as one finds their own spontaneity and does their own thing.

A really good meditation intent on emptiness is taught in MN121. > MN121:3.6: Now, as before, I usually practice the meditation on emptiness.

MN121:4.2: There is only this that is not emptiness, namely, the oneness dependent on the mendicant Saṅgha.

Crikey! Nice one @OyaMist. Another relevant excerpt regarding intention: "a mendicant... focuses on the oneness dependent on the signless immersion of the heart... They understand: ‘Even this signless immersion of the heart is produced by choices and intentions.’ 11.5They understand: ‘But whatever is produced by choices and intentions is impermanent and liable to cessation.’ 11.6Knowing and seeing like this, their mind is freed from the defilements of sensuality, desire to be reborn, and ignorance. 11.7When they’re freed, they know they’re freed."

I had a similar experience perhaps...I was angry and thinking like that, then was fed up with myself, sat down to meditate, kept having the thoughts, but detachment from the anger...realizing that I gave up anger immediately, knowing “not mine...I don’t want this” so it was like my thoughts were possessed...

From The Wisdom of Imperfection: "the Tibetan practice of Chöd (literally “to cut off”) during which a meditator would go to a particularly frightening place, like a cremation ground, and deliberately generate a state of fear so that the vivid sense of “I” would arise. Once this vivid feeling of “I” was generated, the meditator would look it directly in the face, so to speak, and recognize its completely fabricated nature. Recognizing that this “I” had no true existence would directly cut through ego-grasping (hence the name Chöd ), releasing the mind from the emotional distress of the fear"

Book reference: https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Wisdom_of_Imperfection/qA4jmAEACAAJ?hl=en

i agree with that because intention is like subtle form of craving for future becoming. even to think of intention as a cohesive force for the self rings true. a self gets things done, keeps promises, has reassurance, delivers pleasure and relief. but i can't imagine escaping this kind of stress when the 5 hindrances are prominent. in fact, it seems that intention keeps those hindrances at bay or out of sight - i will deal with my afflicted self tomorrow, i promise to unbind later, much later
then there's the sense of control too, knowing how things will turn out. but in a way it's rather risky and uncertain, because it's just some heuristic from past experiences.  i'm putting a lot on the line for this unbinding business (doubt hindrance)...
or having done a lot of karma, one might intend "to be a permanent fixture".  that might lead to a view such as "the cosmos (god) is the self".  then you give all the glory to god, but who am i to offer all the glory?
so it seems intention can be involved in the process of forming view (sankhara). learning own views by watching intention (unfulfilled desire).  so perhaps that is what is meant by resting on...that is to contemplate  or balance our desire.

“The supreme viewpoint external (to the Dhamma) is this: ‘I should not
be and it should not occur to me; I will not be; it will not occur to
me.’”— AN 10:29

I think there's a lot in this answer!

Here's a quote which is quite similar
“chandamūlakā, āvuso, sabbe dhammā.” - All things are rooted in desire.
You can find it here : https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an10/an10.058.than.html
Also :
"Intention, I tell you, is kamma. Intending, one does kamma by way of body, speech, & intellect."

While all of the submitted answers are good (and I can find no reference to this being said by the Buddha either), my mind points me to a simple, and easily found meaning which relates directly to his teachings.
The phrases refer to the importance of intention in the generation of karma. As this answer tries to show, the same act can either generate positive or negative karma. "Everything rests on the tip of intention".

It becomes quite shocking for some to make this realisation, that nobody is there intending to do anything. If fact, some people will avoid it by all costs, the fear debilitates their mind... they understand: ‘But whatever is produced by choices and intentions is impermanent and liable to cessation.’ Knowing and seeing like this, their mind is freed from the defilements of sensuality, desire to be reborn, and ignorance.

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Building discipline & willpower from scratch
I have been smoking for about 5 years now. I never really 'started' one day, but it just made my day to day life more enjoyable, and it did so consistently, so I never had a reason to stop. Recently, I have read about Buddhism and started breath meditation. This brought attention to my lung capacity and, to be honest, made it difficult to meditate without occasionally 'gasping' for air.
All the things I have tried when feeling urges (hot showers, nicotine gum, sleeping, video games, money restraints) don't work for long enough. Most days I create a 'reason' to not smoke, I end up smoking anyway because my mind keeps thinking about things like the validity of the reason, why I need an excuse, etc. Similar to how telling a child to not look at an elephant will rarely work.
I have always had an addictive personality, and am now realizing the only reason I did not engage in smoking in the past was mostly because I was addicted to something else. Currently, I am unemployed and though I have enough money to get by, I am still looking for a job so that I have something else to direct my energy towards.
All of these workarounds and escapes are tiring. But smoking is worse. Is there a way to build willpower and discipline from scratch? Or is the only escape to find something else to do?

"It's difficult to quit smoking."
Everybody believes this statement, even non-smokers. Nobody understands it. It's short, lacks clarity, and offers no insight into the problem. It doesn't even define the problem. It's really just a statement about unpleasant feeling.
Stop believing it. It's wrong view, coming from popular culture. Smoking is one thing, difficulty is another. If you glom them together you make the situation incomprehensible.
Smoking is an unskillful and harmful activity that you want to stop. Okay, no problem there. Difficulty, what does that mean? It points to the stress and suffering that you create inside, when you try not to smoke.
If you could remove the difficulty (the stress and suffering) there would be no problem, would there? So what's the actual problem?
See what I mean? People don't even know what the problem is. Because they don't understand stress and the cause of stress, they look elsewhere for a solution. This is the lack of skill (Avijjā) of the average person.
Fortunately, the Buddha understood the problem you're facing. He understood suffering, the origination of it, and the cessation of it. It's all he taught.
You need to learn to see where your unskillful thoughts are causing you stress and suffering, and then abandon those unskillful thoughts in favor of more skillful ones. This is true in quitting, and also in any other human activity.
A few suttas that will help you to better understand your "problem":
https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/MN/MN19.html
https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/MN/MN20.html
https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/MN/MN2.html
I will admit that the above teachings may be challenging for a newcomer, but if you like a challenge, you'll find them worth the effort they take to penetrate.
"Is there a way to build willpower and discipline from scratch?"
As far as willpower goes: If you mean making a good determination, resolving on it, and persisting in your efforts to achieve your worthwhile goal, I'm all for that!
"Or is the only escape to find something else to do?"
No. The escape is through comprehending your problem to the point where you see it all clearly. When that happens, you will see its allure and drawbacks, you will see exactly when and where your stress arises and ceases, and become disenchanted and dispassionate about the whole (internal) process—that's the escape—that's the easy quit.
Venerable Thanissaro says there are three levels of learning: First you listen, then you contemplate what you've heard until you think you've got it, then you try it. "The things we know best are the things we do."
Take your time, you can't rush understanding, but when you're ready, you'll know.

If one was to become disenchanted with everything, would life not become purely mechanical and dull? It does not sound like an appealing state to strive for, though as you said, I have not experienced it so I have no way of knowing.

@John Is learning dull? Is understanding what's going on dull? To be dis-enchanted simply means to be less passionate, to not be fooled anymore. It's a bit like those enchanted people in children's's stories who "wake up." It's all good!

disenchantment is painful.  you have to accept the change of reality - not just trivial phenomena.  that's not easy...it's a realization i suppose

Some of the secular advice is "delay". I found that not buying cigarettes, not having them, made it easier to quit -- having none to hand, I couldn't just take one and start smoking in some moment of heedlessness, it would have taken several minutes of sustained intention to walk to a store and ask to buy them and so on.
That and it isn't all about "me" -- I'm a product of my environment. If I change the environment -- take away the cigarettes, move to a non-smoking location, live in a non-smoking society, then it's less of an issue.
And it's not about doing something else, it's about not doing something. When I was taken by the urge to smoke, I couldn't do anything else, except stand there and decide that I didn't want to walk to the store and buy some, and wait for the urge to leave me. Fortunately that became easier, less frequent and less intense, with each day that passed after quitting.
Another motto is "seeing danger in the slightest fault". Having tried to quit, repeatedly, for years and years, I reckoned I knew that if I had even one more then I'd have two, and three, and the whole pack and a second pack so on. Maybe other people were less addicted, but for me it had to "no, not now, not one".
Now my life is cigarette-free. Of course I do other things now. I no longer think about smoking, and I don't regret stopping.
I've bicycled a good couple of thousand hours since then, including up-hill, so I'm very accustomed to breathing. If I gasp for air I know why (e.g. after I carry my bike up four flights of stairs, my heart rate is close to 160 bpm), but at rest I find it very easy to get enough air without "gasping", it's rarely uncomfortable. Even so that's one of things you may expected to notice in meditation, i.e. that sometimes you breathe short, and sometimes long (see Ānāpānasati).
Breathing disturbance and mood disorder go together, and with nicotine withdrawal. I think you feel nicotine level dropping in the body,  uncomfortable and confusing. If you quit for hours, for a day, two days, a weeks, two months, two years, then that physical "nicotine withdrawal" state passes -- i.e. because it has reached zero it is not decreasing any more, it is gone.

that's a great point, the breathing is not forced, only observed

what if someone was just to take away all your cigarettes?  now you can't, and you will suffer that, but only for so long.  your suffering will subside in time.
the point is to find out who is in control. but really, it's a matter of giving up control.  you want to give up control, but you can't as long as there is that conflict.  where there is a conflict the self will emerge.  quit smoking and that's one less attachment to yourself; a return to innocence.
the term smoking cessation is funny.  the act of smoking is the catalyst for the cessation of suffering. buddha is often discussing cessation of dukkha, but he didn't smoke.
do you find it gross? like taste or smell, or tactile sensation (burning or sick afterwards). that's a sure sign that's it's more mental craving than physical.  the mental addiction (craving) is far harder to overcome, than the physical, don't you think?
is life stressful or enjoyable?  make life more enjoyable - reduce stress.  find another goal or passion to overcome the initial difficulty.  like watercolor painting.  try vegetarian, smoking and vegetarian is bad combo.
peer pressure might work. cut ties with friends who smoke during this divorce.
ultimately, it's just stress and craving. it's basically you versus craving. that's the only way.  craving is Mara and you are John.  you have to win.
finally, you should forgive yourself for not understanding.  that's tranquil wisdom insight meditation (TWIM). you just do your meditation with the thought 'i forgive myself for not understanding'...it's an annoying mantra but also like a brilliant interruption in a vicious cycle.  this may help snuff out your smoker if you are sincere.
Buddha says:

"Monks, I don't envision even one other fetter — fettered by which
beings conjoined go wandering & transmigrating on for a long, long
time — like the fetter of craving. Fettered with the fetter of
craving, beings conjoined go wandering & transmigrating on for a long,
long time."

remember you only need to quit 'THIS TIME'..not forever, forever is self-defeating.  only be concerned with this time, otherwise thinking about all the times might make you resist fighting for this time...

somebody posted this video that might be of value: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igj9l87Ig-0&t=7s

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Am I "studying" too much and practicing too little?
I am new to practicing Buddhism. I was first introduced to it through reading "What The Buddha Taught" by Walpola Rahula. Since then I've begun practicing Ānāpānasati and zazen, as well as reading suttas from the Pali Canon and writings from Zen teachers like Gudo Nishijima and Brad Warner.
I often find myself in a kind of "information-hoarding" mind-state where I voraciously read, save, and make notes about things I find interesting about Buddhism. Recently I have felt, however, that my time could perhaps be better spent. I don't meditate every day, but my readings seem to suggest that meditation is very important for developing insight and "direct realization".
I also have realized that much of my "studying Buddhism" occurs while procrastinating tasks I dislike (i.e. studying, applying to jobs). I realize that this aversion itself may cause greater suffering for me, and I should probably try to not value one thing over another, as long as they're all correct actions.
How can I simplify my practice and build up my confidence? Are my thoughts reasonable?
Thank you for your time; be well

Every ordinary are living with unwholesome mind arising normally even we are studying or meditating until the access meditation arise instead.

The point of the sitting meditation is to learn "what is the real strongest wholesome mind", which is Jhana. It's not only leaning about wholesome, but it also pull the past uncountable-lives' wholesome karma, Parami, to give it's resultant and let the genius abilities inside shine bright like a diamond, perspective photographic memories with supernatural-mind's-arising-speed and the best purified wholesome minds which arising with no interval of any dirty unwholesome mind arising in between of purified wholesome mind arising.

Studying is good only with Jhana meditation because only Jhana can pause the ordinary's unwholesome and the strong insight meditation, BalavaVipassana, can't arise with unwholesome. Study before Jhana-Attainment could break the concentration meditation and make the practitioner meditate hard confuse and doubt because everything of no-jhana-person is five strings, including study. Study is good and must do, but strong wholesome minds at Access/Attained Jhana state  is basis of Study. Without Jhana, the practitioner could loss the path, wholesome minds leading by right view, easily.

There are some people can purify their mind while listening Sutta, but it's rare to find the perfect one like that, so don't waste the very little life period with that big risk, study without Jhana.

Yes Bonn that’s very true

Yes Bonn that very true

Study to gain knowledge, meditate to turn the knowledge into skill.

You might find, like I did, that one will swing more to reading than practising, and conversely so. I can't see that there is anything wrong with that. I memorized the satipathana sutta, and like Bonn says, the various components of that sutta arise fluidly in daily experience as and when it is needed. In fact, I had studied so many suttas - Mahayana and Theravada - that I started writing my own. This one draws upon the prose of both of those traditions...

Hotpoint Sutra – Where Nothing Can Be Found
Here's the thing, Shariputra. With my mind thus purified, pliant,
malleable, steady, attained to imperturbability, I directed it to the
knowledge of the disappearing socks. I saw, by means of the divine
eye, various kinds of socks in various kinds of colours disappearing
and reappearing in accordance to the cycle of the washing machine -
but yet after the cycle had finished, some did not reappear. Not able
to determine a realm for those missing socks, this line of thinking
arose in me, 'what is the yonder from whence these missing socks
abide? What is their secret destination?'
Now, at that time, the carpenter's apprentice happened to be strolling
by. With a loud voice that would drown out a clap of thunder, I
shouted, "come, carpenter's apprentice! Bring me an assortment of
tools". With an assortment of tools at hand I then took to the washing
machine like a steadfast monk takes to contemplating the body parts:
'here are the nuts, there the bolts, here is the motor, over there the
drum, over here the circuitry, over there the wires'. Shariputra, I
did not even find the fluff of those missing socks, let alone an
entire sock. Having penetrated where the sun doth shine and the moon
doth glow, perplexed, I sat there in deep contemplation. In the time
it takes to consume the contents of the morning's alms round,
knowledge and vision arose in me - clear, bright, unblemished: form is
no other than emptiness, emptiness no other than form.

Is this appropriate?

Thank you for your question, @DeaneCameron - the answer speaks to the OP's question in a way that addresses how one might become rather serious about studying and practising, and that there is nothing wrong with that - but the answer also places an emphasis on relaxing, having fun, being creative and explorative. I've never met a single person who followed a trajectory of perfect uniformity; it's not a one-track journey - the dynamism is beyond all parameters. Is there anything I can do to improve the answer?

My question was a mostly rhetorical one. And I didn't mean to impugn your intentions. It's just that, as I read your post I noticed that I wasn't laughing, and wondered if some might even be offended, even though I'm sure you meant well. I tend to overthink things sometimes, on the other hand...  ;-)


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buddha's advice to moggallana
there is a meditation technique that supposedly was given to  v. moggalana by buddha wrote here like this:

“If you do not abandon your drowsiness by doing that, Moggallāna, then
you should pay attention to the perception of light – the night as the
day, the day as the night. In this way you should develop an open
mind, a mind of unveiled radiance. By doing this it is possible that
you will abandon your drowsiness.

but then another script is saying it's delusion:

“There are some contemplatives & brahmans, brahman, who have the
perception of ‘day’ when it is night, and of ‘night’ when it is day.
This, I tell you, is their being in a dwelling of delusion. As for me,
I have the perception of ‘day’ when it is day, and of ‘night’ when it
is night. If anyone, when speaking rightly, were to say, ‘A being not
subject to delusion has appeared in the world for the benefit &
happiness of many, out of sympathy for the world, for the welfare,
benefit, & happiness of human & divine beings,’ he would rightly be
speaking of me.

which one is correct?  both? or perhaps it depends on context?  what is the context?
a related post:
How to "attend to the perception of light"?

it's just for sloth and torpor?

i'm thinking the two verse have nothing to do with one another...

I think that there are similarities between the two suttas that you quote: Both refer to "perceptions" (fabrications / saṅkhāra).
In the first sutta, the Buddha (Or is it just a daydream while nodding, a delusion?) urges Ven. Mahā Moggallāna to use perception skillfully to help keep himself awake (and also aware that perceptions are fabricated).
In the second sutta, the Buddha points out that sometimes we have mistaken perceptions (like those mentioned in the sutta that give rise to fear and terror), and use them unskillfully, and thereby delude ourselves.
Regarding a "line" between delusion and imagination: I think of them as different things. One is mistaking belief for truth, the other is a very conscious mental fabrication.

yes, the last statement is quite insightful, but do you consider that perception is fabrication?..perception is recognition. one recognizes imagination, and hopefully delusion.  of course it is a fabrication day as nite, nite as day...perhaps the meaning is all fabrications are delusion? but if one recognizes the fabrication as fabrication is it still delusive?

@blue_ego Perceptions may be accurate or not, delusions are by definition inaccurate. One dictionary definition for delusion: "holding (clinging) to a view despite superior evidence." https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/SN/SN22_79.html: “And why do you call them ‘fabrications’? ‘They fabricate the fabricated,’ thus they are called ‘fabrications.’ And what is the fabricated that they fabricate? For the sake of form-ness, they fabricate fabricated form..."

@blue_ego The heart of delusion is ignorance, wrong view, and clinging, thus the delusion is not recognized. If the person wakes up enough to see what's going on (see their wrong view), then the delusion / illusion is shattered, and the word is no longer appropriate. Hope this helps.

@blue_ego You might try "The Varieties of Fabricated Experience" by Ven. Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu for a better explanation of perception and fabrication. https://www.dhammatalks.org/books/Mirror_ofInsight/Section0007.html

thanks!...my comment was missing the point


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Can Meditation lead to Suicide?
Background - My sister's son did not work at all in his life and has been taking anti-depressants for many years now.  My sister must be very sad and worried about him constantly, but she never talked about it to anyone.
His father decided to get him help with meditation and went to this place called "Nirmaya" in Pune city, India. My sister did not want to go for this.  But because she was not strong enough to resist him, she had to go along with it.
They arranged for long distance meditation for him by uploading his picture in their computer and told him to meditate at home.  They told him to let them know whenever he meditates so that they can send positive vibrations to him through his picture on their computer.  They charged fee for every call.
They also said if parents do the meditation, it will be beneficial.
My sister started doing meditation along with her son to show support for him. Nothing happened to the son and the father, but she started feeling very sad and tired and low energy.  No one thought deeply why it is happening to her.  She thought that she is depressed so decided to see local Psychiatrist.  In her first visit she mentioned her worries about her son to the doctor and nothing else.  Doctor did not ask any history about her life and put her on two anti-depressants, one anti-anxiety drug and multivitamin tablets.
At this point my sister is taking all those medicines and doing meditation.  She was already a very silent person but after this she became more silent.  She continued to have sadness and low energy.  So she called the doctor and reduced the dose of anti-depressants.  She became sick with flu and could not function at all.  During her sickness she stopped meditation.  Once she came out of the sickness, she started meditation again.  She also requested her doctor to reduce her anti-depressants dose.  Doctor stopped one anti-depressant and multivitamin tablet.
My sister did not feel better.  She stopped taking the anti-depressants.  She continued with meditation.
This whole thing started with meditation on June 20th, 2022.   October 17, 2022, she committed suicide in the morning.
What happened to her?  Did meditation affect her in such a way that she did not want to live any longer? Should all the places that recommend meditation be held responsible for not giving enough warnings to people they are supposed to help?  Has it become money making machine with very little studies about meditation and anti-depressants drugs?
If you can answer my questions truthfully, I will appreciate it.
Thanks.
Jayshree Deshmukh

When a sick person goes to a doctor and does not get healed, sometimes we want to blame the doctor and sometimes we blame the entire western medicine.
In some cases this may be justified: not all doctors are good, and our current understanding of human body has its limits. But to say that it was the doctor who killed the patient or it was the medical science that killed the person is probably an exaggeration.
If someone could not be helped, should we fire all doctors and close all hospitals? Of course not.
There may be deep and complex reasons for why the person committed suicide. If we had the person's diaries - perhaps we could read it and say, this is what she had on her mind. Without that information we can only guess and assign random blame based on our prejudices and stereotypes. Doing it randomly like that will not improve anything.
It is true that spiritual practice can open suppressed layers of one's psyche. It goes without saying that guidance of a qualified teacher and loving support of spiritual friends or family members is an important factor of overcoming one's deeply buried neuroses. In very complex cases, especially when anti-depressant medication is involved, a close supervision by a healthcare professional becomes a critical requirement.
I am deeply sorry for your loss and I hope you won't let your grief turn into anger hurting other people.

Thanks for stating your opinion based on incomplete knowledge about meditation.  In my opinion when one starts making money by telling people that meditation is beneficial for everyone and does not bother to research if it has any risks.  If it has any risks how to monitor them and not let it hurt people.  You should check out the website Cheetahhouse.org if you take time to know the risks of meditation.  My sister's life is valuable enough for you to open your five senses and look into this research.  Many lives will be saved in future.

It's the easy money that makes people take advantage of people's lack of knowledge.  The person who opens up a restaurant and serves food and charges money for the food has to be absolutely sure that there is no poison in the food.  You got it.  That is called responsible business.

Definitely agreed with your second comment.

I am a kind of depression before and I can say the concentration meditation and the Buddha's teaching is very helpful for me.
Why it can help me?
Because it's not only sitting to be calm but the teaching is fixing my imaginative views into what the real lives are being. Both should be meditated together.
Imaginative views are including positive views and negative views. It could be grown by many origins such as past lives's karma, present life's family's views, drug, health, etc.
And in your sister case, it's clear that the imaginative views happened before the meditation.
You should try the meditation yourself to see how happy the practitioner are while meditating then you will see there are pure happiness in the right concentration meditation which is the opposite of depression.
However, the happy of the concentration meditation can't fix the imaginative view into the reality. The view is fixed by dhamma study which is harder and more depress than the concentration meditation, so the practitioner must have personal management skill to manage whether when she should do the concentration meditation to be relax and when she should study Dhamma to fix her imaginative view.
See this clip and do it yourself then tell me where is the depression? I am doing it and I feel very happy joyful comfort every time of the concentration meditation. I do the concentration meditation to take a tea break, to be happy joyful comfort, beside the insight meditation because the Buddha teach me like that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igj9l87Ig-0&t=7s

that's a very interesting video...i am just learning Ānāpānasati right now for first time...

@blue_ego I'm sorry for the mistake. I am not a native english speaker. The last paragraph should be " I am doing the concentration meditation and I feel very happy joyful comfort every time of the concentration meditation. "

Thank you for asking this important question. I think these kinds of questions should have more of a focus, particularly within the Buddhist community, as I've met many silent sufferers and many Buddhists who have openly admitted they have been psychologically damaged by Buddhist practices. Adding to that there are Buddhists sanghas ordaining people who have no clue whatsoever about how to guide a person through awakening - that in itself is a whole other subject, but succinctly, those sanghas are only interested in sustaining a group ideology or a public image rather than understanding what the Buddha taught. It's a materialistic and self-aggrandizing way to 'feel good' about yourself. However, I suspect that this happens in other traditions, too.
I'm not going to go into detail about the problem of sanghas; it's far too messy, but there are a couple of pertinent points going on here that need highlighting...

The practices themselves are not suitable for the temperament of the person. As an extreme example, there is a Buddhist teaching called the Vesali Sutta, in which a group of monks are given a teaching on the repulsiveness of the body. As such, many of them killed themselves. Here is the excerpt in question, 'In one day, ten monks took the knife. In one day, twenty monks took the knife. In one day, thirty monks took the knife. It would be good, lord, if the Blessed One would explain another method so that this community of monks might be established in gnosis.'

The person has a low level of self-esteem, low confidence and/or a high level of self-criticism. If one tries to erode the illusion of selfhood while not having a reasonably healthy sense of self, well, that's not going to fair too well. Buddhist practises are asking you to directly challenge your beliefs about you and the world. As such, one needs to be fairly well put together, emotionally and mentally, as some of these practices can be very powerful.

The person has some unknown issues buried beneath their superficial identity - whilst I understand that this is true for everyone, depending on the person, the issues themselves - if suddenly opened up - can re-traumatise the person. Adding to that, when one begins to sit with themselves quietly, this simple task itself can be enough to induce a what is generally referred to in the field as a dark night, which might present as a type of depression. The dark night is seen as something of a landmark in some Zen traditions, as it signifies that the illusion of selfhood is eroding. That, too, can cause all sorts of destabilizing thoughts and behaviours and if one does not understand the terrain, it can cause further issues - even suicide.

Lastly, anti-depressants themselves can cause suicidal thoughts, in particular SSRI's. In fact, you will find that as a potential side effect listed in the booklet.

It's possible that a combination of all these factors might have played a role, or perhaps just one. Whatever happened, I hope that you can find some solace and peace from your loss.

Thank you so much for your support.  Please check out Cheetahhouse.org


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Can open monitoring meditation lead to states of Jhana?
I have read about the states of Jhana through Focused Attention Meditation by focusing on breath in Ajahn Brahm's book Mindfulness, Bliss and Beyond. But I find it extremely difficult to focus my attention on my breath.
Instead, I practice Open Monitoring Meditation (OMM) which I understand as mindfulness of the present moment, being aware of all the sense faculties and not reacting to them or getting carried away by thoughts. What I find most useful is to be aware of the activity in my skull or my brain. If I focus on this activity it seems to diminish. I have gotten this method by myself.
My question is, will the OMM lead to the states of Jhana? and What will be the first stage towards it?

Sounds more like Vipassana.

I think the answer to your question is perhaps.  As you mentioned the OMM method is fundamentally watching/observing subjective phenomena without reacting or getting involved with, i.e., being aware of the present moment. Therefore, thoughts and certain emotions can be considered distraction from concentrated effort.  but also the OMM method alludes to the idea of knowing vs. doing. the act of ‘doing’ implies getting involved with (chasing after), while the act of ‘knowing’ indicates observing passively.
I was able to dig up a useful guide posted on BSE a while back that talks about how to obtain jhana.  The guide states quite clearly that ‘being aware of the present moment’ is very important for getting jhana. It also makes the point that one cannot will themselves into the jhana state, but instead must ‘let go’.  This also implies that there is a knowing-doing axis.
One thing the article mentions is the importance of mindfulness of breath. basically, one cannot get jhana without that kind of skill.  You mention that you have difficulty with mindfulness of breath; as do I. It might be common amongst people who are very cerebral. Sometimes I get very tense focusing on the breath, especially the outflow.  This interrupts the tranquility of the mind and body along with one’s concentration.  You will have to do breathing exercises and also be more mindful of breath outside of meditation.  Think of it as a skill that needs to be developed.

No, and for a couple of reasons. Specifically, jhana requires one pointedness (ekagatta).  Open monitoring as you describe is diffuse and has no real persistent object for the mind to settle on. There is a state - the Pali name escapes me now - which is categorized by mindfulness of the mental stream.  This practice doesn't lead to conventional jhana, but upon the achievement of stream entry dependent on insight manifests as supramundane 1st jhana as a path and fruition factor.  Basically, the mind gravitates toward jhana upon the realization of the supramundane path even if the practices leading to it didn't include mundane jhana.  Think of it as a kind of default consciousness that arises when wisdom (prajna) matures.
This is all described in the Abhidhamma Dhammasagani if you're interested in being bored with minutia.  Or not.  Some of it is helpful, but it's slow going at best.

The prevailing narrative about jhana is that one must be sat quietly on a cushion and perhaps for some people that is workable. But for other people the open monitoring - as in the case of some Satipatthanas - if done wisely, can relinquish the mind of the type of sensory experience that hinders jhana. Therefore, while doing some Satipatthanas, jhana can readily and spontaneously arise in everyday life while doing everyday things.

That's just not accurate.  Jhana needs five factors - applied and sustained thought, joy, happiness, and one pointedness.  It's plausible for someone to attain neighboring, temporary, or showering jhana as those are not full absorption and do not require one pointedness.  But for full absorption to establish all five factors must be mature and present.

What you're describing is the suppression of the five hindrances.  While this is necessary for jhana, it's not sufficient.  The jhana factors must also b3 developed.

The idea is to stop meditation becoming a task that one must perform, and blend out the practice into the world otherwise it'll become a decades-long search that may not even be your path. Don't believe me, try it out: next time your sat in a cafe, go through your breathing routine, and whatever else you do - you might surprise yourself! When you get jhana in the outside world, it will change your whole practice. The grit and grime of the world is where liberation happens for most people. It's rare that it occurs on a cushion. Nice fantasy, but get real, mate.

Max, I'm a zen Buddhist priest with two and a half decades of sutra and koan study behind me.  What you're describing is certainly a state of consciousness - most likely the temporary arising of piti and transitory ekagatta - but it isnt insight and it certainly isn't jhana.  You are correct, enlightenment doesnt happen on the cushion, but what happens on the cushion creates the conditions for insight.  Deep concentration is requisite for direct knowledge.  Check out Gunarutana'a essay on jhana on ATI.  It's the best compact introduction available online.

https://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/gunaratana/wheel351.html

Also check out the Tibetan 9 stages of calm abiding.  These are deliciously granular and describe the entire process from ordinary consciousness to jhana in exquisite detail.  They'll supply you with a context regarding why jhana simply cannot occur off the cushion.  Culadassa's Mind Illuminated is the best modern treatment of these stages, but here's a pretty good gloss I found online - https://thubtenchodron.org/1994/05/stages-far-reaching-practice-meditative-stabilization/

A real Zen Priest? I'm honoured to meet you! Please allow me to close this dialogue peacefully with one of my Zen quotes: The Heron Called Dogen: The heron stands tall, firm and erect, proud to claim the visual vastness of the farmer’s land, its abundant fruits, and its majesty of gently rustling crops breaking the silent theme of the countryside. Not looking back once, it flies away unattached, leaving not a single plough in the sky.

Reminds me of Hyakujo's wild duck!

"My question is, will the OMM lead to the states of Jhana?"
Yes, of course, absolutely you can use your technique to move into the first jhana.Use OMM to calm your body and mind down somewhat: to release you from whatever activities or trains of thought you were pursuing.
Then, as the Buddha frequently said, "Go, Do Jhana."
"and What will be the first stage towards it?"
The first stage towards it will be doing the "directed thought and evaluation" of the first jhana. Thinking instead of trying to not think. First you try and calm and center yourself with OMM, then you do the first jhana.
Ajaan Geoff's latest contribution to mankind is "Undaunted." You might find it useful in your journey. Good luck!


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Can there be other paths to end suffering
Why should we consider Buddha's path as the one and only path to end suffering? Can there be a path (let's say through science) where we get to understand how everything got created including consciousness which can be help us identify ways in which to eliminate suffering may be for all of us?

Every path that leads to the cessation of suffering is dharma. Gotama Buddha expressed the dharma one way; another Buddha might express the dharma a different way; another person might express the dharma a third way, and not call it 'the dharma' at all.
The dharma is not a matter of words and practices, and is not constrained by such. The dharma is an understanding, and we want what words and practices get us there.
If we ever have a science of consciousness, that might lead to the dharma. But that's a ways off...

If a teaching is equivalent to the Buddha's teachings, then it can lead to the goal of the end of suffering.
However, if it is not, then it cannot lead to the goal of the end of suffering.

There is no track in the sky,
and no recluse outside (the Buddha’s dispensation).
Mankind delights in worldliness,
but the Buddhas are free from worldliness.
There is no track in the sky,
and no recluse outside (the Buddha’s dispensation).
There are no conditioned things that are eternal,
and no instability in the Buddhas.
Dhp 254-255

The term "recluse" above refers to the persons of different degrees of enlightenment.

It is not about "Buddha's path" being the only path to end suffering because it is "Buddha's". The only path is "only" because it identifies the root cause of suffering and establishes the method to remove that. Science cannot do that simply for the reason that Science is materialistic/physicalist in its conception and therefore does not identify 'mind' as something that exists. If it cannot do that, there is no way it can identify the root cause of suffering or the methods to transform mind.

the alternative path does not need to come from science. It can be anything, may be another religion. Buddhism nor science explain 'consciousness' and perhaps any theory that explain how consciousness arise may be able to provide an alternative path.

There once was an argument about the variety of paths.

DN13:4.1: Vāseṭṭha said this:
DN13:4.2: “This is the only straight path, the direct route that leads someone who practices it to the company of Brahmā; namely, that explained by the brahmin Pokkharasāti.”
DN13:5.1: Bhāradvāja said this:
DN13:5.2: “This is the only straight path, the direct route that leads someone who practices it to the company of Brahmā; namely, that explained by the brahmin Tārukkha.”
DN13:6.1: But neither was able to persuade the other.

Frustrated, the arguers sought out the Buddha.

DN13:7.1: So Vāseṭṭha said to Bhāradvāja,
DN13:7.2: “Bhāradvāja, the ascetic Gotama—a Sakyan, gone forth from a Sakyan family—is staying in a mango grove on a bank of the river Aciravatī to the north of Manasākaṭa.
DN13:7.5: Come, let’s go to see him and ask him about this matter.
DN13:7.6: As he answers, so we’ll remember it.”

The Buddha's answer is long, so it would be best to study DN13 for more information. However, we might borrow a part of the Buddha's discussion to address the question about science as a path.
Science is a tool for solving problems. Indeed, science itself has brought us many tools for solving problems. We have used science to make hammers that build us houses to keep us warm and dry. Yet the sciences, like hammers, have also been used to kill people. Science has been used as a tool for ill will as well as good will. Knowing this, we well might ask of those who rely solely on science:

DN13:32.6: “Are their hearts full of ill will or not?”

DN13 is interesting because the Buddha advises non-Buddhists on how to proceed on their own paths to end suffering. The Buddha does not demand that they become Buddhists. However, his clear answer does inspire the non-Buddhists to follow the Buddha.

DN13:82.4: We go for refuge to Master Gotama, to the teaching, and to the mendicant Saṅgha.
DN13:82.5: From this day forth, may Master Gotama remember us as lay followers who have gone for refuge for life.”

There are many ways to decrease suffering. However, if there is a teaching that illuminates the path all the way to the end of suffering, we all have the choice to step on the well-lit path or simply flounder around in the darkness. Science gives us flashlights, not a path.

Unfortunately, I do not see how this relates to my question.

Can there be a path (let's say through science) where we get to understand how everything got created including consciousness which can be help us identify ways in which to eliminate suffering may be for all of us?

No that's not possible. Only the Buddha's teaching (The Noble Eighfold Path) can lead to the end of suffering. That's because no other teaching can eradicate the defilements on the deepest level (third level: anusaya).
In DN 16 the Buddha said to the wanderer Subhadda that only teachings containing the Noble Eightfold Path can produce the 4 types of Enlightened beings:

The Buddha said this:

"Subhadda, in whatever teaching and training the noble eightfold path is not found, there is no true ascetic found, no second ascetic, no third ascetic, and no fourth ascetic. In whatever teaching and training the noble eightfold path is found, there is a true ascetic found, a second ascetic, a third ascetic, and a fourth ascetic. In this teaching and training the noble eightfold path is found. Only here is there a true ascetic, here a second ascetic, here a third ascetic, and here a fourth ascetic. Other sects are empty of ascetics".

That is why the Buddha's path is the only path that can lead to total freedom from suffering.

But this does not imply that there is no other path?

It means that to become free from all suffering there exists only the Buddha's Teaching. No other paths can do that.

my question is how one can prove that it is the only path. What did Buddha said about that. Did he say that his path is the only path? And if he did, what was the basis.

The Buddha himself said that teachings that does not contain the Noble Eightfold Path cannot produce enlightened beings. Only teachings that contain the N8P can lead to enlightenment and freedom from suffering.

Updated my answer with the Buddha's reply.

Is it conceivable that a way will exist one day ("let's say through science"), that will somehow put an end to all human action (in thought, word, or deed), or will make all action inconsequential?
Because, the Buddha taught the importance of action: the science of causality as it occurs in the mind. Unskillful mental action, according to the Buddha, is the cause of all stress and suffering. Bad things may happen, but it's in the unskillful ways that we respond (to our mental experience of them) that suffering is born. His teachings help us learn to use our minds more skillfully in order to stop causing suffering. And with that in mind, logically, and as far as we know, this is the only way to end our (self-inflicted) suffering.
Why speculate about something that we admit doesn't exist, when we have something that does, and has stood the test of time?
Check it out. I would suggest that you start with the core teachings, in the Pali Canon. These are accepted to be what the Buddha taught by all branches of Buddhism. You might even enjoy it!
I reccommend this site, whatever your current knowledge of the teachings.

Thanks for the explanation. To give some context, I am by birth a Buddhist and 40 years old now and have been following Buddhism fairly well. My main requirement is to understand how to help others - starting with my immediate family to become enlightened. Thats why I wanted to know if Buddha explicitly denied the existence of other paths some of which may work at a higher level influencing all souls. As an example, understanding how consciousness fully may give some answers. I do not think Buddhism explains consciousness fully, it just explains how it behaves.

Yes, other people, it's something of a thorny problem. Have you considered equanimity as a possible solution? At least until an insight comes regarding how to help others.


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Will aiming for emptiness instead of awareness of breath help attaining meditative absorption states?
I am finding it difficult to focus on the incoming-outgoing breath. Whenever I become mindful of my breath, the Mind kicks in. I cannot even focus for 5-10 breaths, the mind activates. Giving the mind some work, which is being aware here, kind of activates the mind.
Instead, if I become mindful of thoughts, I can remain without thoughts for 5-10 seconds. Correct me if I am wrong, but is this Zazen kind of meditation, -- Just sitting, Doing Nothing. Will this practice help attain meditative absorption states?

Are you asking, 'can emptiness be the object of meditation?' I have heard that the mind itself is an object.

yes, are you right...but then you have to accept what you cannot control too

Your thoughts aren't going to go away.  Not for a very long time.  Right now, you're comparing yourself to the pinnacle of practice.  You're beating yourself up for not being able to obtain something that's only available to people who have been sitting for hours a day and for years.
You can't force samadhi just like you can't force a flower to grow by tugging on it.  All you can give it is the causes and conditions for success.  If I could recommend a technique for you now, it would be simple breath counting. Just count your exhalations 1 to 10 and then start again at one.  Just count.  Don't worry about anything else that happens in between the numbers.  Nothing that arises, positive or negative, is of any importance.  Just keep counting, over and over.  Get bored.  Get antsy.  Struggle with doubt.  Get annoyed your racing mind. Let all of that happen, but keep counting.  And try your best not to fidget.  Start with fifteen minutes.  Over time, try to add a few minutes until you can last for an hour.
If this practice frustrates and annoys you, if it makes you feel like you want to jump out of your skin, then it's doing exactly what it's supposed to do.  When you reach that place of frustration - what one koan calls "the foaming billows" - persist, persist, persist.
Return to this place again and again.  Over time, you'll start to grow exhausted with all your thinking and your doubting. One day, your mind will simply abandon these things itself. When that happens, then you've reached "just sitting".  But for now, don't try to force it.  For now, just make friends with frustration.


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What is the last reward in AN 6:103 ("The Teacher will have been served with goodwill.")?
I'm not sure how to understand the sixth reward, or even who is rewarded. Can someone explain it?
(AN 6:103, from https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/AN/AN6_103.html, complete sutta quoted below)
“In seeing six rewards, it’s enough for a monk to establish the perception of stress with regard to all fabrications without exception. Which six? ‘The perception of disenchantment1 will be established within me with regard to all fabrications, like a murderer with a drawn sword. My mind will rise above every world. I’ll become one who sees peace in unbinding. My obsessions2 will go to their destruction. I’ll be one who has completed his task. The Teacher will have been served with goodwill.’
“In seeing these six rewards, it’s enough for a monk to establish the perception of stress with regard to all fabrications without exception.”

Looking on suttacentral with Pali lookup enabled:

https://suttacentral.net/an6.103/en/sujato?layout=linebyline&reference=none&notes=asterisk&highlight=false&script=latin

The text in question is,

satthā ca me pariciṇṇo bhavissati mettāvatāyā’ti

Given the mini-translation ...

sattha

a science; an art; a lore 2) a knife; a lance 3) a caravan

... I wondered how that could translate as "Teacher"?
I think that word-lookup is misleading -- the text says not sattha but rather satthā.
And frankk's answer says that's sathhar, "teacher, master" (which, i.e. satthar and satthā being the same word, is very possible because in Pali word-endings change when nouns are declined).
The full PTS dictionary mentions ...

[cp. Vedic śāstra, fr. śās to teach] a science, art, lore

... so that's the root or etymology of the word.

The question of "who the teacher is?" is notoriously difficult to analyse -- "is the Tathagata this body?" etc. It may be worth remembering SN 6.2 which implies that even the Buddha wants or needs to "dwell in dependence, honoring and respecting [him]" which I think implies that's a motive (or a condition, a sine qua non) of any monk.
Finally the word translated reward is ānisaṁsa

profit, advantage; benefit, blessing (in, locative)
praise i.e. that which is commendable, profit, merit, advantage good result, blessing in or from (c. loc.). There are five ānisaṁsā sīlavato sīla-sampadāya or blessings which accrue to the virtuous, enumerated at ...

So maybe not a mundane "reward" but more generally something praise-worthy (or I might say blameless).

Thank you for your thoughts Chris. I think there are probably some valuable nuggets in there. Maybe someone will add something that pulls it all together for us.

satthar 1
masc. master; teacher [√sās + tar] ●
satthar 2
masc. name of a privately enlightened Buddha; lit. teacher [√sās + tar] ●
In the suttas, "sattha" is often referring to The Buddha.
The "reward", is that the disciples feel gratitude for the Buddha, and by practicing his teaching to its culmination is the ultimate sign of respect and gratitude, and the best way to serve him.

Thanks for your answer. I like it, but I also have a feeling that something is missing from it.


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Find the motivation to meditate
I know that when I meditate I become very efficient and quick in my work. Do you have any tips for motivating yourself to meditate during the day? I had thought about putting an alarm on my cell phone once or twice a day to encourage me to meditate, but it seems that is not enough. I need something more automatic than that. Something to give me a little kick to meditate 15-20 minutes during the day.

Are you looking for a "reminder" -- because you forget, it doesn't occur to you during the day? Or a "motivator" -- because even when you remember or are reminded, you choose not to?

Although alarms are helpful, we should perhaps consider the bigger picture. The Buddha taught seven prerequisites for right immersion:

MN117:3.1: “And what is noble right immersion with its vital conditions and its prerequisites?
MN117:3.2: They are: right view, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, and right mindfulness.

Each step is important, and we need to take them in order.

MN117:34.2: And how does right view come first?
MN117:34.3: Right view gives rise to right thought. Right thought gives rise to right speech. Right speech gives rise to right action. Right action gives rise to right livelihood. Right livelihood gives rise to right effort. Right effort gives rise to right mindfulness. Right mindfulness gives rise to right immersion. Right immersion gives rise to right knowledge. Right knowledge gives rise to right freedom.

Alarms do help, but we also need to be ready to hear the alarm and meditate when it rings. Meditation takes preparation. If we are watching a great movie when the alarm rings, we will be unprepared. But if we are gently cleaning our room when the alarm rings, it will be much easier to meditate.
No kicking is required.
Instead, take these seven right steps before meditating.

MN117:35.2: And how does right view come first?
MN117:35.3: For one of right view, wrong view is worn away.
MN117:35.4: And the many bad, unskillful qualities that arise because of wrong view are worn away.
MN117:35.5: And because of right view, many skillful qualities are fully developed.
MN117:35.6: For one of right thought, wrong thought is worn away. …
MN117:35.7: For one of right speech, wrong speech is worn away. …
MN117:35.8: For one of right action, wrong action is worn away. …
MN117:35.9: For one of right livelihood, wrong livelihood is worn away. …
MN117:35.10: For one of right effort, wrong effort is worn away. …
MN117:35.11: For one of right mindfulness, wrong mindfulness is worn away. …

And then just meditate.

The method which worked for me is to find fellow meditators in my area. These may be your coworkers or people who stay in your area.
Once you join a group that meditates regularly, it is easy to maintain the practice. Once well established in the practice of meditation, you will find it easier to work independently. But in the beginning, our mind resists a lot, so much so that even thinking about meditation feels like a burden. These are our minds' tricks, but we need to handle them gently.
I am reminded of a quote-
Think of mindfulness as a form of "affectionate attention." —Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn
I hope it helps you.

What you are experiencing is an unconscious aversion to meditation. While consciously you know and experience the benefits of meditating, on the other hand, there is an unconscious aversion to the task. In Buddhist parlance, this generalised aversion has been enumerated into five types, which are typically called the five hindrances. It is good to have a healthy understanding of these hindrances and how they present themselves in everyday life, and not just on the meditation cushion. Having this understanding, one can - at least initially - see the rudiments of those hindrances and their unique, personalized terrain. Later, one knows the details of that terrain, one becomes somewhat of a connoisseur, an expert in the field of their own mind. Knowing the details like the contours, the peaks & troughs, the mental & emotional weather, is called mindfulness, which brings about emotional intelligence.
Some people have little in the way of hindrances, which is obviously a good thing. For these people, they will also likely have a thinned-out body concept; they may take well to formless practices like contemplating space or studying teachings found around the eighth fetter. Zen Master Dogen, for instance, begins at something called ‘enlightenment’, but his teachings can be a little obscure for most and may not be compatible with someone who isn’t ready for them, hence...
...for some, the struggle to sit with the body is an unconscious aversion, which typically shows itself as the five hindrances:

sense desire: a desire to entertain something in the world.
Ill-will: the feeling of agitation, annoyance, irritability or anger towards people and situations.
Mental and physical laziness: self-explanatory
Anxiousness: a feeling of unease that directs the attention away
from the body.
Doubt: unsure whether these exercises are worth pursuing.

Good luck, my friend.

Traditionally, the Buddha recommended a series of recollections to those who's practice had slackened or who were unmotivated to sit.  These were called the anussatis. To engage in this practice, you simply bring into mind the qualities of the Buddha, dharma, sangha, virtue, and the heavenly beings (in the five-fold anussati) into your mind.  Focus on their sublimeness, their perfections, their courage, their prodigous efforts, and so forth.  Think of it as the Buddhist version of getting your hype on.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anussati

Controversial suggestion: try making it seem more attractive / easier.
Listen to music while you meditate or watch tv. Pop on The Office and be aware of your breath 51% and the office 49%. You can develop an affinity for the breath this way.
Later, once you have the habit, you can remove the external stimuli. Or, at times, you may feel like doing it without additional stimuli.
<3


text:
Vajrayana Buddhism: Teachings the Buddha reserved for "only some individuals"?
Wikipedia says this about Vajrayana Buddhism:
"According to several Buddhist tantras as well as traditional Tibetan Buddhist sources, the tantras and the Vajrayana was taught by the Buddha Shakyamuni, but only to some individuals."
What precisely is the claim here?
What rationale is given for the Buddha reserving teachings for "only some individuals"?

Different people have different levels of being buried in their preconceptions and stereotypes.
Preconceptions and stereotypes make people misinterpret the Teaching. The more someone is stuck in harmful stereotypes, the harder it is for them to understand the Teaching correctly. (It's not as much a problem of mental capacity, as it is a problem of overcoming our ego's neurotic defenses. The more someone is lost in Samsara, the more it would hurt one's ego to understand the Teaching, so misinterpretation becomes a mechanism of pathological self-defense.)
Misinterpreting the Teaching causes all kinds of trouble, from the student losing faith and falling away, all the way to literal psychosis and even violence, creating negative karma in this and future lives.
This is why the Buddha came up with a gradual teaching system, where the student is given the simplest and most fundamental principles first, gradually ascending to the more subtle and advanced. This ensures safety and stability on each level of training, as explained in the famous cow metaphor sutta.
The more advanced the teaching is, the harder it is to understand, the easier to misinterpret.
For example, as Max pointed out above, the advanced teachings on so-called Emptiness have a tendency to pull the ground from under one's feet, which both demotivates and confuses unprepared students, hence the restrictions.
That said, tantra is far from being all about Emptiness. There are tons of tantric tricks designed to overcome particular psychological problems and most of these tricks are - to put it mildly - not politically correct and therefore cannot be shared outside of a specific (and private!) teacher/student relationship.
This extreme sensitivity to context, and to the audience's level in general, along with the very real harm that comes from misinterpretation, are the main reasons for restricting the more advanced teachings "to only some individuals".
In addition to being genuinely advanced, Vajrayana plays on people's love for secret teachings and uses the mystery to captivate its students.
That's exactly what the dorje or vajra scepter is supposed to symbolize - the union of Emptiness and Compassion manifesting as the skilful means of liberation.
As for the Musk's vajra sitting on his bedside table next to the pistols, I think the symbolism there is simply that of peace. Apparently the original Indian vajra was an actual weapon with its prongs open and sharpened. Closed vajra then symbolizes non-violence, similarly to how the Christian cross was originally a pacifist play on the obelisk - an ancient symbol of manly power. So I see Musk's vajra as "the weapon of peace", which is a nice image.

Fantastic answer. This sounds entirely plausible to me. Thanks.

I am curious to learn more about this topic. If you have any recommendations on resources, that would be much appreciated. I suspect many will want to learn the story behind Elon’s “weapon of peace.”

I suspect because it is a teaching pointing directly to emptiness. In fact, the core principal notion in Vajrayana is an implement called the Vajra, which is actually a helpful conceptual idea. The Vajra is merely a symbol for the effortless scrutiny of emptiness. This kind of direct teaching would only be suitable for a select few people who are not anchored to form all that much. Using Theravada as a corollary and a convenient pivot towards an answer, alongside an excerpt from the Heart Sutra (Vajrayana were heavily influenced by Mahayana scriptures, although they typically lean into Tibetan symbolism and aesthetics - I guess image is everything!) let me try to explain...

So know that the Bodhisattva Holding to nothing whatever, But dwelling
in Prajna wisdom, Is freed of delusive hindrance, Rid of the fear bred
by it, And reaches clearest Nirvana.**

In the pali canon, the Buddha and his chief disciples would sometimes call out, ‘I see you, Mara!” The Mahayana reference above states that the mind has now become so clear, bright and empty that any disturbance whatsoever is instantly known and seen. Instantly knowing and seeing those disturbances causes them to shrivel away, like how a thief is caught in the act of trying to take what is not there's - inside, they shrivel. Similarly, delusions appear, looking to pilfer and rob the body and mind. Seeing those delusions in the clear, bright knowing (pranja) mind, they disappear under the effortless scrutiny of emptiness. In the Vajrayana tradition, they call this effortless scrutiny the vajra-like awareness - it slices through all bullshit!
In some Chinese traditions this cutting awareness has been personified as the immovable wisdom king. There is only a small reference to this type of awareness in the pali canon, which I think might be called acala. Also in the pali canon, this immovable essence is largely something that is implied rather than overtly spoken about, except in the case of some Therevada traditions who worship figures that represent the immovable nature, but elsewhere in Theravada, that implication is delivered in the phrase 'The job has been done! There is nothing more for this world!'. Therefore, very few people could understand such an advanced teaching; hence, most took upon a progressive approach.
Sorry to have to fuse together all these different traditions! This is based on my personal understanding and not from any other source, so take it with a pinch of salt!

Very interesting. Elon Musk made the varja famous yesterday on twitter. I had not heard of it before then. I am very curious about the teachings on how this symbol is used for "effortless scrutiny of emptiness."

@AlexRyan - I'm not sure Elon Musk understands the significance of the vajra, but he has found himself drawn to it for whatever reason. Sometimes these Buddhist symbols appeal to us unconsciously and perhaps it is the beginning of slowly slicing through his own delusions. To have a person with such material power moved by this awareness would be an interesting and a very good thing! He might become the modern-day version of Anathapindika of Savatthi! Anything can happen.

I suspect he might take up spirituality as a new channel for his megalomania…

Vajrayana Buddhism: Teachings the Buddha reserved for "only some individuals"?

There's no mystery here. It's widely known that the Buddha taught by giving mostly individual teachings to people. Everyone didn't get everything but people got what they specifically needed in order to become free from suffering.
Only the Buddha had the ability to see peoples Kamma and past lives and know exactly what that being needed in order to become free from suffering. In that way the Buddha's teachings were perfectly tailored to the individual being.


text:
Can you break the five precepts (except for lying) if the need arises?
I have come across someone stating that you can break any of the five precepts with exception of lying if the need may arise. Is this true? In Theravada Buddhism.

Yes. You can even break the not killing precept under certain conditions. I did this myself with insects, as the practice had become a hindrance. I had created a cocoon around myself that did not favour living a householder life. I didn't want to join a sangha or monastery, so I broke free. Best thing I ever did! However, this question needs to be answered with care, consideration and a great deal of wisdom for obvious reasons.

Wow. Cool. What's your source though? Can you recall?

If you are asking for any canonical references on the subject, you can add the [tag:reference-request] tag to the question? Otherwise answers may be paraphrased (not citations), or based on personal experience.

I first learned of this in Chogyam Trungpa's book, Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism. In that book, there is a small section where he speaks specifically about deliberately breaking precepts in order to undo the bindings that the practice can leave. The practice can leave a kind of ghost in the machine that must be removed.

That's quite insightful. Thanks!

I guess it's based on the following sutta.
One who tells lies may eventually get into all other evil deeds.

This was said by the Blessed One, said by the Arahant, so I have
heard: "For the person who transgresses in one thing, I tell you,
there is no evil deed that is not to be done. Which one thing? This:
telling a deliberate lie."
The person who lies,
who transgress in this one thing,
transcending concern for the world beyond:
there's no evil
he might not do.
Iti 25

And also:

The person who tells a lie,
who transgresses in this one thing,
transcending concern for the world beyond:
there's no evil
he might not do.
Dhp 176

Can you break precepts if the need arises?
Of course you can, but there are consequences. The precepts are there to improve your situation, to help you move away from suffering and towards liberation. Breaking a precept always creates some kind of direct or latent cause of suffering. It always adds yet another knot to the tangle of our karmic situation.
Children often choose short term "need" over a more strategic but less tangible goal. They eat candy instead of vegetables and watch cartoons instead of doing their homework.
If you are an adult, tell me what's more important: getting "the need" or untangling your karma and reaching harmony in your life?

If abstaining from going after what's not true, real, how could one ever break the precepts, do any unskilfull. It's because of cheating, lying, (e.g. avijja), foremost toward oneself at first place, that one does harm to oneself, harm to other. So simply that mirror, given by the Sublime Buddha toward his son, this simple to remember talk, sets one toward liberation and final end of any harm.

Can you quote which sutta you're referring to?

The Buddha is always categorical in this matter: Anyone who takes life, take what is not given, engage in sexual misconduct, tell lies and/or use drugs is
paving his/her way to a woeful existence.
The commitment to observe the precepts is yours.
If you believe in the Buddha and is convinced that is worthwhile to adhere and observe the precepts, you do so.
Otherwise, if you're not fully convinced that is worthwhile to keep the precepts, once you have take them, you'll start to come up with excuses to break them whenever they turn out to be inconvenient, but this doesn't change what the Buddha really taught as his Dhamma.

This is not actually correct. Like for eg, alcohol, Buddha only crated the rule of not using intoxicants because a monk came back to the sangha drunk. You seem to have your ideas mixed.

@Remyla, What exactly is not correct in my post? How is your observation relevant?

Well you said that the Buddha said "doing X action paves way for a woeful existence" but this is not wholly true. The only need for sila is to enable one to lead a life without remorse. Sila in of itself is only for this, the Buddha did not exactly elaborate on what X action leads to what X result. This is one of the 4 imponderables, the intricacies of karma was never taught by the Buddha. As well as I elaborated, intoxications were only deemed unwise to do for the sangha AFTER a monk came back to the sangha drunk. Only the henious actions were said to lead to more rounds in samsara (hell)

As well as the Buddha said to the sangha that they can abandon the lesser rules he had once created for them, on his death bed, in the maha parinibbana sutta, but the first council could not deem what was greater or lesser so kept all in. For all I or you know, killing, lying etc could be lesser rules and mean absolutely nothing in the grand scale of things.  It is as if you have put words in the Buddhas mouth based only upon your own opinions then come to the conclusion that the Buddha said such things.

@Remyla , The one trying to put words in the Buddha's mouth it's you. The Buddha explicitly said what actions tend to lead to lower realms and what actions tend to lead to higher realms (E.g: AN 10:165).
Living with remorse is one instance of a woeful existence, and if it gets worse, it'll lead to hell (SN 42:8).
The use of intoxicants is not wise exactly because is something that contributes to a woeful existence. Intoxications contribute to headlessness, headlessness may lead to misconduct and misconduct is the cause to fall into lower realms.

The precepts are the foremost and the most fundamental instructions given by the Buddha. When you say they are "lesser rules and mean absolutely nothing in the grand scale of things" you are promoting the counterfeit dhamma, slandering the Buddha and amassing much demerit. (AN 2:23)

"the foremost and the most fundamental instructions given by the Buddha"
They are not at all. The fundamental instructions given by the Buddha is the 4 noble truths, 8 fold path and Satipatthana.
The Buddha created rules for the sangha after being asked by the Sangha once it got too large, rules created were often specifically for unskilful actions created by the Sangha (like intoxication) as explained and as explained the Buddha said that the sangha can abolish the lesser rules
https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/dn/dn.16.1-6.vaji.html
Part 6, 3

Kind of ironic and hypocritical you paraphrase AN 2.23 when you yourself in both your answer to OPs question and in this comments have specifically created and spoken about some sort of concepts that you are attributing to the Buddha saying, when there is no evidence of him saying such things.

I think it would be wise for you to actually read what is said in SN24:8 because it seems to me you might of misunderstood what the Buddha was saying here. He is NOT saying doing these actions will result in a hellish state, he is explaining that virtuous actions can overcome any previous negative actions. Also 10:165 doesn't seem to relate specially to this question but to resorting only to one who is imbued with the 10 qualities. i.e relying upon virtuous friends.

They are for sure, there is no full realization of the 4 Noble Truths if you break the precepts and one of the purposes of Satipatthana practice is exactly to do not break the precepts. It's not possible to fulfill the 8 fold path if you take life, take what is not given, tell lies, engage in sexual misconduct, etc, because these are wrong actions stemming from wrong view and the 8 fold path always start with right view instead.

I don't know why you keep bringing up this issue of  "lesser rules" for the Sangha. The lay followers are not even members of the Sangha, so this is irrelevant. But it's worthy to mention that the act of killing (or even to encourage the act of suicide), take what is not given, have sex and tell lies about one's own attainment are actions that entail immediate expulsion of a bhikkhu. Thus they can not even be regarded as minor rules.

Nonetheless, unskilfull kamma leads to lower realms and be imbued with a specific quality is  kammic activity as well. It does not matter if you perform a action with your body or perform a volition with your mind; they are both kammic activities and the action with the body only happens because it's ignited by volition. Even merely holding to wrong views (the wrongs volitions) can lead you to a hellish existance. (SN 42:2, MN 130)

Again you are coming to conclusions and attributing words to the Buddha that he never said. The buddha explained to ananda on his death bed, in the mahaparinibbana sutta as I posted above, that the sangha can abolish the lesser rules if they like. After the Buddha died, at the first Buddhist council, the sangha could not conclude or decide what was or was not a minor or major (lesser or greater) so they kept all of the rules in the vinaya In turn today the sangha do not know what rules are greater or lesser so something that might be seen as a transgression warranting expulsion from the sangha

Again, all this issue with major and minor rules of the Sangha is not relevant. The fact is that the adherence to wrong views and the practice of wrong actions (which includes breaking the precepts) is the cause of a misery, unhappy and hellish existance. This is explicitly said by the Buddha over and over again in the suttas and I have already mentioned some of these suttas.

And those rules which entail the heaviest penalty (immediate expulsion) for those who break them, can only be regarded as major rules. The Buddha said to "see danger in the slightest fault" and he NEVER overlooked the importance to keep the precepts (quite the opposite)

Today's "Yellow Page Teaching" from Ajahn Jayasāro

Refraining from telling lies
or misrepresenting the truth is a powerful Dhamma practice. it
requires a sharp and constant mindfulness. It has a strong purifying
effect on the mind. Its power lies in the way that it exposes the
defilements that are triggered during conversations. In determining to
care for the truth and uphold it - come what way - we are able to
recognize and let go of the fears and desires, the insecurities and
the pride, that lie behind our small untruths and half-truths.
But an uncompromising approach to even "white" lies does not lead to a
harsh, unfeeling style of speech; commitment to truth is not the only
principle to be borne in mind while we are speaking. The Buddha also
taught that our speech should be beneficial, appropriate to time and
place, kind and polite.
Love of truth ennobles the mind. Expressing this love in our speech
with skill and sensitivity is a wonderful gift we can offer all those
around us on every day of the year.
Ajahn Jayasāro 24/12/22

https://t.me/s/ajahnjayasaroyellowpageteachings

Quite simply believing that observing in precepts will lead one to liberation is a fetter, one of the first 3 of 10 that will be released by actually seeing the goal and "becoming" or reaching the fruit of sotapanna.
If not killing, lying, stealing etc... lead one to liberation, why did the Buddha elaborate on satipathana, jhana, vipassana..
That would mean one could just chill out, lie down and would naturally become liberated by never doing any sort of action, negative or positive.
The simple thing is moral discipline, which is the fundamentals of the 8fold path, is there for one to live without regret and to not cause harm to oneself or others.
It is not like a mahayana buddhist would believe, a means to "accumulate" good fortune (merit) as to be reborn in a situation conducive to liberation.
So essentially the precepts are just boundaries, simple rules one should strive to live by to live a shameless, blameless and non intrusive life towards oneself or others.
It is like the simile of the raft, just a vessel one can leave behind when one crosses the shore. Though of course naturally one striving for liberation would have no need to lie or steal or kill. So the initial discipline work pays itself of naturally by changing ones outlook towards life which never creates causes of negative actions to bear fruit (again).
The 5 heinous actions are the most important actions one should always strive to never create, actions one as a sotapanna or "greater" would never be able to commit.
These are completely obstructive actions to liberation, and would lead one in the opposite direction.
Also to point out that the Buddha himself, on his death bed in the mahaparanibbana sutta said to the remaining sangha that they can abolish the lesser rules of the sangha, but the first council could not decide what was a lesser or greater rule so kept all of the Buddhas rules in the viniya.
There is also clearly a difference between an ordained life and leniency to the precepts compared to a lay persons.
My own personal opinion is that actions which cause others harm (killing, lying, stealing, sexual misconduct towards others) should always be refrained from, but actions that cause no others harm are not inherently negative.
For an example, refraining from intoxicants, intoxication does not inherently harm others, but if it does, like you get angry when drunk and hurt others you should refrain from it.
If on the other side it brings you pleasure and causes no harm to others then in of itself it is not a negative action. Idle sure, harmful to your body sure, harmful even towards clarity of mind, sure, but not harmful to others.
Obviously for an ordained person it is an obstacle towards liberation, idle entertainment and a waste of time, as well as breaking vinaya, so should be refrained from. Though for a lay person, if you yourself are unable to commit to refraining from intoxication, then refrain from the other 4 precepts, just not that one, or only that one on X amount of days.
Using intoxication as an example of course, one can use the same or similar precepts as a basis for the same meaning.
Unfortunately we often "have to" lie in society to function, in most cases we have to "technically" steal (be in debt, or miss bill payments) to function, we sometimes even have to kill to function, especially if you drive a vehicle you will kill multitude of beings just going from A to B.
Morality is not so white and black, it is grey.


text:
How to get away from the desire to become a Buddhist Teacher or some influencer followed by many?
My mind creates this desire or a dream that I will get enlightened and become some sort of Guru who teaches Buddhism to many, I will become someone like Bodhidharma or Milarepa etc.
I want some practical solution to counter this fantasy of my mind which has become a hindrance to the meditative absorption state. How should I counter this mental fantasy by making the mind look at the facts, whatever that may be.

When I was young I had the idea to "run away from home", as some children do, and maybe live in the countryside somewhere or to become a train driver, instead of going to school that day. My younger brother came with me: and we were gone for several hours before the police found us. What bothers me is, it was a pretty stupid or immature idea though an attractive fantasy or dream, well I was only young, but I mis-led my younger brother. I feel some shame about that, and don't want to mislead him or other people again.

i mean, influencers are kinda bad.  there's nothing wrong with being inspired by other, famous or historical, bodhisattvas. so i guess it depends on why you want to achieve these things. is it out of compassion, or just the very base desire of wanting to be seen as good, or something worse?

Charnel ground meditation is an effective intervention to cure us of Māra's temptations. Unwholesome aims keep the entire human race trapped in the cycle of aging, sickness and death.  For the welfare of all beings, choose a more wholesome aim.

Why is it a fantasy? They have courses in teaching, don't they? You could be the next Buddha for all anyone knows.

The dung beetle sutta contemplation below can help you with your desire.

"Monks, gains, offerings, & fame are a cruel thing, a harsh, bitter
obstacle to the attainment of the unexcelled rest from bondage.
Suppose there were a beetle, a dung-eater, full of dung, gorged with
dung, with a huge pile of dung in front of him. He, because of that,
would look down on other beetles: 'Yes, sirree! I am a dung-eater,
full of dung, gorged with dung, with a huge pile of dung in front of
me!' In the same way, there is the case where a certain monk —
conquered by gains, offerings, & fame, his mind consumed — puts on his
robes and, carrying his bowl & outer robe, goes into a village or town
for alms. Having eaten there as much as he likes — full of almsfood &
invited again for the next day — he goes to the monastery and, in the
midst of a group of monks, boasts, 'I have eaten as much as I like, I
am full of almsfood & have been invited again for tomorrow. I am a
recipient of robes, almsfood, lodgings, & medicinal requisites for
curing illness. These other monks, though, have next to no merit, next
to no influence. They aren't recipients of robes, almsfood, lodgings,
& medicinal requisites for curing illness.' Conquered by gains,
offerings, & fame, his mind consumed, he looks down on other
well-behaved monks. That will be for this worthless man's long-term
suffering & harm. That's how cruel gains, offerings, & fame are: a
harsh, bitter obstacle to the attainment of the unexcelled rest from
bondage.
"Thus you should train yourselves: 'We will put aside any gains,
offerings, & fame that have arisen; and we will not let any gains,
offerings, & fame that have arisen keep our minds consumed.' That's
how you should train yourselves."
SN 17.5

In the Mahayana tradition, what you're describing is the Bodhicitta, the awakening mind. It's the compassionate energy, vigor and vitality that comes from releasing energy from the contracted ego mind; one wants to share what you currently understand about your discovery. However, some delusional aspects of ego are still kicking around, and this is where the energy from the awakening mind becomes tied up in egoic pursuits, giving rise to pride and arrogance along with a strong sense of superiority.
Au contraire, the energy itself isn't wrong, but some of the ideas and behaviours may lead to questionable conclusions and a large helping of disappointment. Perhaps try to get a sense of that energy and redirect it towards other tasks like mindfully sweeping... a favourite metaphor in the zen tradition for clearing the mind alongside the actual task of sweeping, itself...

"Where you sweep, confusion swirls around, swirling around confusion
where you sweep. More turning, sweeping, turning. In the place you
cannot sweep, do your utmost to sweep. Day and night, backbone
straight, continuously without stopping. Bold and powerful, do not let
up. Suddenly, sweeping breaks open the great empty sky. Ten thousand
distinctions, a thousand differences exhausted – completely opening.”

Tiāntóng Rújìng

I can't find anything about doing good things just to be seen as a good person. I don't know why that is, perhaps because the law of cause and effect if a pretty basic teaching, and good actions create good karma for you. But, in general, the desire for fame is going to be quite a mundane concern

1 & 2: Happiness vs. Suffering · 3 & 4: Fame vs. Insignificance · 5 &
6: Praise vs. Blame · 7 & 8: Gain vs. Loss.

https://www.lionsroar.com/buddhism-by-the-numbers-the-eight-worldly-concerns/

"Monks, these eight worldly conditions spin after the world, and the
world spins after these eight worldly conditions... "For an uninstructed run-of-the-mill person there arise gain, loss, status, disgrace, censure, praise, pleasure, & pain. For a well-instructed disciple of the noble ones there also arise gain, loss, status, disgrace, censure, praise, pleasure, & pain. So what difference, what distinction, what distinguishing factor is there between the well-instructed disciple of the noble ones and the uninstructed run-of-the-mill person?"... "His mind does not remain consumed with the gain. His mind does not remain consumed with the loss... with the status... the disgrace... the censure... the praise... the pleasure. His mind does not remain consumed with the pain... Desirable things  don't charm the mind,
undesirable ones    bring no resistance... Knowing the dustless, sorrowless state,
he  discerns rightly,
has gone, beyond becoming,
to the Further Shore.

So, the point in Buddhism is that it's all suffering anyway, all the fame in the world only ends up causing further distress without liberation.
You could try zen and the idea of "no merit".
In a way, it's kinda harmless to be motivated by fame, same as it is to be motivated by happiness or praise. Personally, I have something similar with historical impersonal gain. Not all selfless actions are good (killing someone for someone else), and not all praise is good (I'm sure even Hitler had yes-men).

If this is a recurring theme, you could also question your dream in terms of true purpose. Often, we differentiate between mind and heart, ego and true path. Also, we can get distracted in vain and infinite dimensions, which can bind us to suffering, which others mentioned here already. Any path can lead in ever branching mirrors of suffering.
Yet, if you have a recurring desire, you can investigate deliberately, either through meditation practice - maybe trying a different lineage of school, open ing up to the desire, or you can not investigate, and cut it off and maybe you get beaten to that path after all after some time trying to get astray.
Either way - paths of life to be walked.
So you might as well give it a go, if you feel a certain calling. Becoming or being a teacher may not as glorious on the actual path as it may seem posthumously.