Beautiful, that’s a very important distinction. When I refer to every day experiences of beauty and joy that don’t lead ‘inexorably’ to craving and clinging I am not saying something ‘abstract’.
An example: I am in the mall and I see a mother talking to her baby. I just experience this, it brings me joy to see this, it’s a beautiful thing for a mum to do with her baby and, that’s the end of it. I walk away from that scene, having had that perception and, I am not worse off for the experience.
Our lives are full of many experiences of joy and beautiful things that simply happen. This is not a problem in terms of our ability to practice Buddhism. It’s safe - not a problem!
To fail to see and acknowledge the difference between:
would suggest that there’s some kind of confusion with regard to the teachings found in the suttas.
The Vipassana tradition with its heavy reliance on commentaries may be partially responsible for this confusion and/or later developments in Buddhist teachings?
What follows is an extract from another thread that is insightful and has plenty of references to sutta-sources. I will try the link- thing (see below).
“Learning patience and learning how to be happy in the present moment seems to be quite important. I believe, we must be able to be present if this Path is to work. MN 131, MN 132, MN 133, MN 134. And I think the only way to make our minds present is if we can make the present pleasant! I mean, I’m so restless that if the present isn’t enticing enough, I’ll just shoot off on some train of thought or other! I think we have to learn to use vedana as a secret weapon which will eventually turn on itself! And the only way we can be pleasantly present is if we are basing ourselves in virtue and kindness; and then I think it gets easier if we get some good meditation or understand how to meditate and get a bit of wisdom going. I think that’s what AN 11.1 and AN 10.2 are all about.” - Kay
Some of the things said in this other thread - cited above - are a bit ‘hit and miss’ IMO but, there are observations that are right on target.
The Dhamma is beautiful in the beginning, beautiful in the middle and, beautiful in the end.
The-Basic-Method-of-Meditation.pdf (1.0 MB)