Maya_0

When you say you're looking for ways to improve your life, that is all just your own ideas and beliefs about life. No one else is going to have the exact same ideas about life as you. For myself, an improvement in life consists of reducing the total suffering and increasing qualities like happiness, peace, joy, compassion, love, equanimity. How does one achieve that? By working towards awakening and practicing techniques to hardwire positive emotional states into the brain.

People like to use the word "Self" and "True Self" to conceptualize Ultimate Reality. They like to point out that all this phenomena experienced before you is "who we truly are". But Ultimate Reality is not anything at all. It can't be conceptualized by something. So why are we using the word "Self". There's nothing (no-thing) there to call it anything. It makes more sense semantically to name it in terms of what it's not (e.g not self). But I see many people conceptualizing it as Self.

No. Concentrations is a quality that fades. I came back from a retreat a few days ago and everyday I can feel my concentration lessen a little.

Do you understand that you didn't exist either? With that, you could see there is no need to get upset over the matter.

It's not easy when first starting, especially since we have developed ADHD brains from all the modern technological stimulation and distractions. If you are bored, you are thinking. Think of the meditation as a game to notice whenever you are lost in thought. If you notice you are bored, just be aware of that arising mind content, and then return to the meditation. If you become bored and stop meditating, you've essentially lost the game, as you've become identified with the arising content. Be patient, be persistent. Be diligent and be very vigilant.

Mind precedes all mental states. Mind is their chief; they are all mind-wrought. If with an impure mind a person speaks or acts, suffering follows him like the wheel that follows the foot of the ox ~Dhammapada

I would say morality, addictions, and habits are orthogonal to Enlightenment. Enlightenment is just liberation from the suffering caused by a view of self.

Hello. I was wondering if anyone knew of some super cheap accommodation, maybe in South East Asia, or somewhere warm, where I could live in a natural environment in a hut, tent, cave, cabin or some rustic housing ? I'm looking to spend less than $10 a day on accomodation. Primitive plumbing is ok ; as long as it doesn't have rotting structure and bugs coming out of holes in the floor! Prefer it to be somewhere quiet but not too far from where I could go buy food and provisions. I'm also not so much interested in attending a meditation centre because I want to follow my own schedule and practice. Thanks so much. ?

Look into a Zen meditation techniques called Shikantaza, also known as "just sitting"

Maybe depends on what your selling. Can it be sold easily through an authentic, well spoken, honest pitch, the kind that distinguishes Enlightenment? Or will it require an aggresive, misleading pitch, the kind that distinguishes being a devil?

Concept is a mental representation. Sure, you could you could tour the Earth from a space and experience it being a sphere but when your back on earth, it becomes a concept again.

@SvanteTheBeast Enlightenment will allow you to be free from the identity of ego. You will still have an ego, but not be attached to it, and ideally put an end to the suffering in life. This is something attainable while living. Why would you commit suicide? You can live life and have the ability to step out of your ego identity.

Leo is the ego/self. It's not that there is a person who has an ego. The person is the ego. Just the name "Leo" is but one of a multitude of aspects that form the whole ego/self.

Enlightenment is not equivalent to ego death or death or suicide. Enlightened folks still have an ego/self. I believe you misconstrue Enlightenment with enlightenment experiences. Enlightenment experiences, otherwise known as Awakening experiences or mystical experiences, are temporary, temporal experiences one can have that cause ego death. But once the experience ends, the ego is back. Ego death is a temporary death, it is not the same as suicide.

It can be either depending on the person's conditioning, and depending on many other aspects like the person's prior spiritual development and the quality awakening experience itself. I would say the majority of people go through a dark/depressive stage after awakening. But it is only a stage and not permanent. Awakening is a new beginning; akin to being "reborn" as in the Christian tradition. Of course, the ego/self can interpret it as nihilistic and sad, but that is only the ego's/self's reaction to being recently stripped of it's cherished beliefs. It's a stage to feel sad about awakening, but not the final deal. There was never any ultimate reason to do anything. Reasons to do things are things the ego constructs. You can still explore life and consciousness as always! You can still make your own reasons to do things, but know they are only relative and be unattached to them. I really recommend checking out the book "The end of your world" by Adyashanti if you happen to find yourself in a pessimistic/nihilistic place after awakening.