Ep. 224 – Buddhist Teachings on Perception & Formation, Satipatthana Sutta Series Pt. 21
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Nov 21, 2024
Dive into the fascinating interplay between perception and mental formations in this insightful discussion. Discover how rigid views shape our self-identity and can lead to suffering. Mindfulness holds the key to understanding the fluid nature of self and reality. Explore how thoughts, emotions, and perceptions influence one another, with a personal anecdote illustrating emotional subjectivity. Lastly, the exploration of the transient nature of self constructs invites profound contemplation, emphasizing the importance of awareness in our mental landscapes.
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Dalai Lama's Groucho Marx Mask
Joseph Goldstein shares a story about the Dalai Lama wearing a Groucho Marx mask.
This playful act demonstrates freedom from self-image and the joy of deflating expectations.
insights INSIGHT
Constructs of Identity
Concepts like age, gender, and race are also constructs that can limit experience.
Over-identification with these concepts creates a fixed sense of identity and attachment.
insights INSIGHT
The Illusion of Self
The concept of "self" is a misguided perception, a construct of the mind.
This "self" arises from superficially recognizing patterns of physical and mental elements.
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Continuing his discussion of the five aggregates, Joseph Goldstein dives deeper into perception and how we can get lost in mental formations.
The Satipatthana Sutta is one of the most celebrated and widely studied discourses in the Pāli Canon of Theravada Buddhism. This episode is the twenty-first part of an in-depth 48-part weekly lecture series from Joseph Goldstein that delves into every aspect of the Satipatthana Sutta. If you are just now jumping into the Satipatthana Sutta series, listen to Insight Hour Ep. 203 to follow along and get the full experience!
This episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/insighthour and get on your way to being your best self.
In another exploration of the Satipatthana Sutta, Joseph discusses:
Balancing perception with mindfulness
Using the frame of our perception to enter more deeply into experience
Our tendency to solidify the world through superficial concepts
The seduction of being lost in the future and past
Reality and the concept of the present moment
Created concepts of self-image
The delineation of mental factors; universal, occasional, and unwholesome
Considering the understanding of karma
Having interest in our mental formations and taking time to investigate them
How mindfulness of mental formations helps us see how impersonal everything is
Grab a copy of the book Joseph references throughout this series, Satipaṭṭhāna: The Direct Path to Realization, HERE
“We also create concepts about things that may seem even more fundamental like age, gender or race. But when we look more deeply, we see that these are concepts too. How old is your breath? It doesn’t make sense. Is the pain in your back male or female? What color is your mind? It’s not to say that the concepts don’t point to some differences of experience, but we often become so identified with and attached to the concept." – Joseph Goldstein
Insight Hour with Joseph Goldstein 