Day Six: 27 November 2005

Strive ardently, oh man, and burn. Purity comes from burning away the dross. Gold must pass through the crucible in order to be refined.

19.03
Over half way through, and I've made it despite various moments thinking I couldn't. With further scanning of the body, further understanding the wisdom of impermenance, of change and to observe the body with equanimity, further bad sankhara can be averted, so that old cravings and aversions can be removed. Like a surgical operation.

Craving, aversion, doubt, sleepiness, and lack of will: these are the main stumbling blocks to progress. Keep on trying, keep on being vigilant and determined.

--
The Discourse Summaries--talks from a ten-day course in Vipassana Meditation, S.N. Goenka

"This is not a path of pessimism. Dhamma teaches us to accept the bitter truth of suffering, but it also shows the way out of suffering. For this reason it is a path of optimism, combined with realism, and also "workism"--each person has to work to liberate himself or herself. "

"The old mental habit is to seek to push away painful sensations and to pull in pleasurable ones. So long as one is involved in the game of pain-and-pleasure, push-and-pull, the mind remains agitated, and one's misery increases. But once one learns to observe objectively without identifying with the sensations, then the process of purification starts, and the old habit of blind reaction and of multiplying one's misery is gradually weakened and broken. One must learn how to just observe. "