At some point, the mind itself moves away from things that want to reverse the correct order, it is very visible, but it is not enough, the further process requires giving up the current life to burn off the fuel of these perversions and this is the problem for the layman. Regards and I wish you patience.

Hallo ihr beiden und schön, dass es euch gefällt! Wenn sich mir Gelegenheiten bieten, werde ich natürlich auch auf Deutsch weiter Vorträge machen. Was deutschsprachige Videos angeht könnte ich mir vorstellen ab und an mal ein Video auf einem gesonderten Channel zu veröffentlichen - ich glaube nicht, dass es sinnvoll ist Sprachen zu mischen =) Sollte es aber vermehrt Interesse geben, werde ich das natürlich in Erwägung ziehen! Liebe Grüße

Ja das wäre wirklich großartig! 👌🏻😇🙏🏻

There is a release through conduct (practice of virtue that culminates in either Jhana or Brahmavihara) and then there is release by discernment or wisdom. The former is getting rid of the superficial defilements/hindrances but leaves the fetters intact. Fetters should just be understood as "mechanisms that lead to the rebirth of craving" even if it has been "gone" for quite a while. release by wisdom goes beyond that. This kind of release is no longer subject to future arising. It is a release through dependent origination _in addition_ to the "release" through virtue. Through this kind of release, the "taking up" (by whatever means) of craving becomes impossible, as it is not "your doing" and that knowledge is more significant than any part of the aggregates.

I am not sure where you get the idea from that what I describe here would be without "practice". Sense restraint means, and the Suttas are extremely accurate and detailed there, that you do not act based on greed, aversion, or delusion to the best of your ability. When you restrain those behaviours that you usually do and "interrupt your routines", then you only really start _noticing_ the craving that usualyl remains hidden. As an example, when you immediately give in to a craving for chocolate, then you do not feel the suffering that is involved in the process. When you restrain such actions, the suffering becomes apparent for you to work with. In a sense, you only really "discover" that there is something wrong with the way you usually go about you life when you are "separated from what you want" as the Suttas say. This kind of restraint has increadibly many levels to it and all of them reveal craving on ever-finer levels that you may then restrain and thus decondition. As a result, calm arises that stems from no longer wanting something that previously oppressed you. It is not too different from a drug addict who "comes clean" and later realized how much of a burden his previous addicted lifestyle was. As a result he will experience immense relief, joy, calm, and later just a profound sense of "healthiness". Yet, there is no real magic about this. The training in virtue that the Buddha described just "arificially" separates you from what you deem agreeable so that you don't have to experience it all at once. Yet, for everything that you have given up in this way, you experience some fruit of the practice and are rewarded by immense peace and lightness - you are unburdened. This kind of practice is nothing that comes easy or that you do as a "side quest" it is a practice that you have to maintain 24/7 and it is among the msot difficult, yet least magical or mythical things you can imagine. Yet, the result should be quite clear. If you _untrain_ layer by layer all the craving from your life, then you will at some point end up without craving. Such a state could rightfully be called "quite secluded from sensual pleasures". What I mainly say is, that whatever you practcie might be, it has to be 24/7, 365 days a year and not just for a few hours each day. Only when your virtue applies on this level will the mind unify in Samadhi. Otherwise, there is always some worldly desire that will interrupt such a state of Samadhi. A Samadhi that you enter and leave is not the Samma Samadhi that the Suttas describe. The Buddha evain said that craving is a "maker of limits". If your Samadhi ends at the ending of a sitting, then it is a Samadhi with limits. At any time, I prefer being without craving at _any time_ regardless of the posture.

@@TheDhammaHub So how exactly should this work? What is the exact way to do it?

@@TheDhammaHub ​ @TheDhammaHub So how exactly should this work? What is the exact very concrete way to do it? In my experience, when you are a dedicated samadhi practicisoner, your samdahi never ends, it just changes intensity. I practice this all the time, in meetings, in public transport. There is no posture. Posture helps, but it is not that important.

Because practice is on the cushion. Not something freestyle walking around, being mindfull and watch your cravings. That's simply not this part of the path, but right efford and right thought you are talking about all the time. Not right mindfulness nor right samadhi, which are simply othe parts of the path. The buddha himself was a dedicated samatha practitioner.

@@metamurk Let us compare this process with a regular addict. A normal addicted is addicted to a certain substance like cocaine. Why do you consider him an addict? Because he repeatedly takes his drug and seems to have lost control over this process. He values his drugs and only experiences peace shortly after he got it. If, however, that person were to stop taking his drug, people would slowly but surly stop considering him an addict just like people would only call you a car mechanic as long as you do car mechanic things. After a while, the addict might have his behavior better under control but would still value his drug on a mental level, we still considers it valuable and "wants it" deep down. Only once he has been clean for long enough that his internal value system changes would he be considered truly "clean" and no longer in danger of falling back. In this simile such a person would be considered "perfected in the virtue of abstaining from cocaine" once this point has been reached. Then, he would twist this or that way and would be deeply troubles if people would force him anywhere near cocaine. it is the same with sensuality. Sensuality is the most general of all addictions that includes all other possible addictions. Sensuality means that you are addicted to pleasant sights for the eye, nice sounds for the ear, beautiful touches, tastes, smells and agreeable thoughts. The process of overcoming this kind of addiction is exactly the same as coming clean of a drug, but much much harder. You would be considered as "sensual" by other renunciates as long as you "take your drug" of sensuality, which means acting out of greed, aversion, or delusion towards any experience of the senses. The less you delight in the senses, the less addicted you are and at some point, you no longer engage in behaviors of seeking agreeable sense inputs. At that point however, you still value them on a mental level. Yous till "want" sensuality and think its good deep down. Only when you have abstained for quite a while so that even those deep values have eroded away and you have noticed that life is better without this sensual addiction will you be perfected in virtue. At that point, you see sensuality as deeply dangerous and would twist this or that way if two strong men would force you back towards sensuality like it was a pit filled with glowing embers. The point is, coming "clean" of sensuality is much more about what you _do not_ do and not so much about what you do instead. what you must definitely do is "no longer engage in sensual behaviors". What you do as a _replacement_ is secondary as long as it is not sensual. In this way, you decondition the unwholesome (sensual) and cultivate the wholesome. Yet, if you have ever been truly addicted to _something_ you know how much work, patience, and willpower the process of coming clean from even smaller addictions can be. It is a constant battle and for some people it can help to first "wean off" using certain replacement strategies like pleasant breath exercises. The point is, they are not "essential" as the essential bit would be the _Stopping of sensual actions_ - this is the part that cannot be left out. Yet, even though you are not addicted right now, there is still the possibility that you slowly fall back to old habits. You might still become negligent and find yourself in a place of addiction to some sensual experience again. Yet, at least for a while, based on this kind of non-addiction, there is literally NOTHING in the entire world that could distract you from the Dhamma. The Dhamma makes sure that it becomes impossible to become addicted again! While non-addicted, you cultivate the impossibility to ever become addicted again in the future by any means. You make the possibility for craving to arise again "like a palm stump" so that it is _no longer subject to future arising_