As we develop on the path it can be expected that there will be a reduction in suffering, this reduction is a good hallmark of whether our practice is fruitful or not. Im mostly concerned with the treatment of pleasant sensations, moods, thoughts - just the general realm of pleasant experiences we can have.
As these occur more frequently should we “lean in” to these and find grounding here to further develop our practice, should we not place any great importance on these experiences or should we go even further and distrust these experiences? Does the advice change for those with mental health concerns?
The necessary task regarding pleasant feelings is to replace sensual feelings with skillful ones, so there must be discrimination between the two. Pleasant feelings can include any feeling of tranquillity resulting from path development, and there should be investigation of the different effects of the two:
“I myself, before my Awakening, when I was still an unawakened bodhisatta, saw as it actually was with right discernment that sensuality is of much stress, much despair, & greater drawbacks, but as long as I had not attained a rapture & pleasure apart from sensuality, apart from unskillful mental qualities, or something more peaceful than that, I did not claim that I could not be tempted by sensuality. But when I saw as it actually was with right discernment that sensuality is of much stress, much despair, & greater drawbacks, and I had attained a rapture & pleasure apart from sensuality, apart from unskillful mental qualities, or something more peaceful than that, that was when I claimed that I could not be tempted by sensuality.”—Majhima Nikaya 14
